Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, said to himself “deeply” worried about the state of France, Friday October 21 on France Inter. “I am especially worried to see that politics today is disconnected from the reality of the country”he judges.
Dominique de Villepin considers that the National Assembly and the government must “going as close as possible to the needs of the French” who “have the feeling of not having enough to settle their end of the month” then “that next door there are the richest who are even richer”. “It is a political reality that must be dealt with (…) assume, including through taxation”, asserts the former Prime Minister, convinced that we “cannot accept to see the country’s interests diverge in this way between the elites and the people”. According to Dominique de Villepin, the executive must show “that he is aware of the fractures and that he cannot leave them unanswered”.
In his analysis of the current state of the country, the former Prime Minister regrets that it is not possible “to look at the future serenely” and “the world without having the feeling of being attacked”. It is, he says, “which explains the reactions on immigration and nationalism”. “We are rolling out the red carpet for the far right in the next presidential election out of exasperation and helplessness”, alert Dominique de Villepin.
Dominica of @Villepin : “The divisions are multiplying, the fractures are multiplying. It is a raw France that is expressing itself today. It lacks the word that creates unity and explanation.” #le7930inter pic.twitter.com/mxpE6uECO0
– France Inter (@franceinter) October 21, 2022
Faced with this observation, the former tenant of the Quai d’Orsay appeals to “the unity and balance of the country” and asks the government to “overcome divisions”, “including taking the risk of unpopularity”. Pension reform should not, he says, be “made to add an extra feather to the hat of leaders”, on the contrary, “the French must understand how it serves the country and how it allows, over time, to solve a certain number of problems”.
The former Prime Minister also castigates the “lack of pedagogy and explanation of the executive”without forgetting “the limits which were those of [s]own action” under Jacques Chirac. “We need a word that heals this society and we need a long word that puts France in a position to reconcile with the world”, he pleads.
On the question of the relationship with the European Union, Dominique de Villepin believes that it is necessary “become a proponent again”, “take back the lead”. He deplored the current differences within the “Franco-German couple”, which he describes as “paralyzed”. Tensions between France and Germany erupted after the decision of the German government to postpone until January the council of ministers of the two countries which was to be held on October 26 in Fontainebleau.
“We cannot afford at this moment in history not to have a united Europe and a strong Europe”adds Dominique de Villepin who – faced with the war in Ukraine – calls for finding “a fruitful dialogue” between the two nations, “to go each half of the way”, particularly around the issues of energy and budgetary rigour.
“Unfortunately the Europe defended by Emmanuel Macron, European sovereignty, strategic autonomy, tends to crumble”, deplores the former minister. He calls on France to “get serious again” in terms of public finances, denouncing “his laxity”, and to “take into account that the energy reality is not only played on the capping of gas and electricity prices but on a long-term strategy”. “We must be consistent and serious”he concludes.