France's Macron to finally meet press after cabinet reshuffle

The 46-year-old centrist, whose words from 8:15 pm (1915 GMT) will be airedon several television channels at prime time, is expected to set the coursefor France's youngest-ever prime minister, 34-year-old Gabriel Attal, afterhe was named last week.
The press conference at the Elysee Palace, expected to be a marathon event,will be the first such question-and-answer session hosted by Macron in Francefor almost five years.
The president, accused by opponents of being aloof and even of havingmonarchical tendencies, regularly answers questions from reporters whileabroad but has made a habit of almost never holding a full-scale pressconference at home.
Instead, Macron has preferred to communicate through videos and posts onsocial media, as well as formal addresses to the nation at times of acutedomestic or international crisis.
But Macron is hoping to breathe new life into a second term in office hobbledby the lack of a parliamentary majority, after mass protests against apensions reform and divisions within his ranks over an immigration bill lastyear.
The president tilted his cabinet slightly to the right last week, just monthsahead of European elections in June in which the far-right National Rallylooks set to beat his Renaissance party.Macron has called for the revamped ministerial team led by Attal to be"revolutionary", and bring back the spirit of bold change from when he wasfirst elected in 2017.
But critics have pointed to a lack of women in mostly unchanged topministerial posts and questioned priorities after the education and labourbriefs were relegated to ministries with other responsibilities.
The last time Macron opened himself up to questions from journalists in sucha way was at a press conference in April 2019, after the so-called "yellowvest" revolt -- initially against a proposed hike in fuel tax that was laterscrapped -- that was a major challenge to his first term.
He spoke to journalists for four hours in 2022, but that was to campaign forre-election.
Macron promised to speak to the nation after parliament passed thecontroversial immigration law in December, after it was hardened underpressure from the right.
The president has said he believed elements of the law were unconstitutional,and the Constitutional Council is to rule on the legality of the legislationon January 25.