It will soon be two months since France has been paralyzed by weekly demonstrations and strikes which each time throw nearly a million people into the streets. Every night in Paris, vandals set fire to garbage cans and break windows. Ten percent of service stations in France are running out of gas. For two weeks, the capital has been buried under tons of waste. In the National Assembly, the deputies of the radical left (LFI) appeal to the streets when they do not call the ministers assassins. In front of the television cameras, they sometimes respond with arms of honour. Rejected by two out of three French people, the pension bill could not be put to the vote, because it would have been beaten. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has been suspended since a motion of censure passed nine votes.
You believe the situation is explosive, but you are wrong. A simple bad time to pass, Emmanuel Macron said in substance last Wednesday to two journalists amazed with so much confidence. Moreover, by choosing to intervene at 1 p.m., an hour when only pensioners and the unemployed are in front of their posts, the message was clear: “Move around, there’s nothing to see! »
Reading the bill that set fire to the powder, one would almost be tempted to agree with Emmanuel Macron. In a world where the retirement age is on average 65 years old, what has stung the French so that a postponement from 62 to 64 years old makes such a racket? It will have been understood: no more than the revolt of the Yellow Vests was reduced to a quarrel over the prices of gasoline, the current dispute is not limited to a disagreement on pensions. This is basically just an outlet for the deep malaise of French society.
A discomfort with regard to work, first. Because, contrary to popular belief, the French work longer than the Germans and value work more than other Europeans. That may be one of their problems. Because, since the arrival of the euro, French industry has melted like snow in the sun, and specialized jobs have often been replaced by mediocre odd jobs. When it’s not unemployment. It is no coincidence that the only social group that massively supports this reform is that of retirees, while it is rejected by 90% of the active population, who believe that they are not sufficiently respected.
But the discomfort goes far beyond that. It takes the form of what our compatriot Mathieu Bock-Côté, who officiates on CNews and at Figaro, calls it a “regime crisis”. In reality, since the narrow adoption of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, the French have increasingly felt that they were excluded from the decisions that concern them. Worse, they no longer have a democratic lever on which to press when they want to be heard. At the time of the seven-year presidential term, they could still turn the tide by voting in the legislative elections, which took the place of ” midterm elections “. With the five-year term, this possibility has evaporated, since the legislative elections immediately follow the presidential ones.
The other lever of the Ve Republic was historically that of the referendum. It is now demanded by the opposition and all the unions. But, since in 2005, the French dared to reject the European constitution and in 2016, the English voted for Brexit, this recourse to the people has been demonized and qualified as “populist”. The proof, not so long ago, an awful demagogue organized at least one every two years. His name was General de Gaulle.
Emmanuel Macron symbolizes this democratic contempt better than all his predecessors, since he was elected twice not so much on his program as on the fear of the National Rally. Badly elected, the president had also recognized the evening of his election that this imposed a certain humility on him. She quickly disappeared. As for this fear, it was widely relayed by the media, even if in the current debate on pensions, the RN appeared to the general opinion as the party most respectful of the institutions. We often forget that a democracy is judged not only by its votes, but also by its ability to practice alternation. Especially at a time when “the left and the right are no more than two retailers who buy from the same wholesaler”, said the great Philippe Séguin.
Jaurès spoke Occitan and de Gaulle thrilled at the mention of Joan of Arc. Mitterrand communed through literature with deep France while Chirac liked nothing more than to flatter the ass of the cows of his dear Corrèze. On the other hand, we know little of Emmanuel Macron’s conviction other than Europe. He who said in 2017 “there is no French culture, there is a culture in France”.
No offense to the technocrats, the “refractory Gauls” have remained a nation. And a political nation! By acting as if nothing had happened and by financé to pass at all costs a law massively rejected by the people, Emmanuel Macron only reinforces this democratic denial. And prepare for the next explosion…