Emmanuel Macron will go to Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) this Wednesday, October 12, for a busy visit: the President must take part in the debate regarding “democracy is tested through social networks” then devoted the afternoon to national space strategy. A program that Occitan farmers want to participate in. The Head of State’s trip was carried out under strict supervision, reports Dépêche du Midi : Emmanuel Macron has been somewhat cautious on the national scene since his decision to dissolve the National Assembly in 2024.
Hurt by what the head of state said “somewhat positive” But “alert” about the possibility of accepting a trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, the agricultural union FNSEA called on its members to mobilize this Wednesday morning to “demands a clear and firm commitment from the President of the Republic to support French agriculture”.
Therefore, the farmers had to gather, some of them riding their agricultural machines, to the head office there Assignto the west of the Pink City, where Emmanuel Macron launched a series of debates around democracy and social networks. The President will discuss three major themes with several experts in front of 250 to 300 capable people “intervening or responding to what is said” for about two hours, said the newspaper’s news director Lionel Laparade.
This debate will first discuss conspiracies regarding health issues, especially with Dr Julien Mazières, a pulmonologist at Toulouse University Hospital, who has been on the front line during the Covid-19 crisis. Then there was disinformation and fake news when arguing with the Director General Delivery from the SouthJean-Nicolas Baylet and Lionel Laparade. And finally, the education of the younger generation regarding social networks, especially with the teacher and YouTuber Yann Bouvier – more than 1.17 million cumulative subscribers on YouTube and TikTok – and the former rector of the Occitanie academy, Mostafa Fourar.
“If we compare the power of social networks with that of the press, we see that there is a difficulty, a balance of power that is not in our favor. It is our role, in this maquis of social networks, to continue to do our job. underlined Lionel Laparade.
The president intends to make the detrimental impact of screens and social networks his new hobby horse during his five-year term before municipal elections in 2026 and presidential elections in 2027.
With “the algorithms and interventions that ultimately shape our emotions, the way we conduct public debate, and the way we obtain information”, “National independence is a form of cognitive independence”we underline at the Elysée. From “decision” can be taken at the end of this Tour de France, and “everything is open”including the referendum hypothesis, how it will be taken, has been clarified.
The President of the Republic must then inaugurate the Space Command (CDE) building in the afternoon where he will unveil France’s national space strategy for 2040 to face global competition, both civil and military. “Space is no longer a place of peace, but a place of protest,” some of them “very aggressive on the part of our competitors, including Russia”Elysee argued.
“In space, the watchword is to accelerate immediately.(…) Confronting the militarization of spacethe time is no longer politeness in active defense, but offensive action”, on trial on Thursday the Chief of Staff of the Air and Space Force, General Jérôme Bellanger.
Therefore, Emmanuel Macron, according to the Elysee, should give his speech this Wednesday “a vision”, “a timetable” And “set a goal” for this strategy, which should be broken down into five pillars: “sovereignty in terms of access to outer space”industrial skills, defense, “science and exploration”as well as cooperation, both intra-European and with non-European allies.
