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Local France
7 days ago
- Politics
- Local France
OPINION: France is a mess, but it's far from the only country floundering
A year ago, France had no government and no obvious means of acquiring one. Enter Michel Barnier in September. Exit Michel Barnier in December. François Bayrou, the fourth Prime Minister in 11 months, took his place. Bayrou's exit seems likely in October or November. This year, at least, we should be spared a summer of politics or politicking. Normal warfare has been suspended until the Autumn. An IFOP opinion poll last weekend found that President Emmanuel Macron's approval rating has fallen to its lowest ever level – 19 percent. Bayrou, who was already the least popular Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic (ie for 67 years), has slumped to 13 percent. It is now less than two years (gulp) before France elects a new President of the Republic. READ ALSO : ANALYSIS: Who's who in France's 2027 presidential election race✎ The democratic health of the country has reached its most disturbing ebb since the 1950s or maybe the 1930s (ignoring the hiatus of 1940-44). The Centre and Centre-right government is exploring unseen depths of unpopularity. The Left is not only divided but its divisions and sub-divisions are divided. Advertisement France's most popular politician, the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, is also one of its most unpopular, with negative ratings in the high 40s. She is, in any case, banned from running for President in 2027 after being found guilty of stealing money from the European Union last March. Her appeal will be heard in the Spring. As things stand, the front-runner for the presidency is her 29-year-old deputy, Jordan Bardella, who proved in last year's parliamentary election to be a pretty (and petty) TikTok politician incapable of defending his own policies without a script. Whoever does enter the Elysée in 22 months' time will inherit a fiscal time-bomb. The unserious reactions to François Bayrou's truth-or-consequences budget plan last week suggest that the French – both politicians and people – are not yet willing to confront the €1.3 trillion consequences of a half-century of state overspending. At the same time, France faces rising unemployment, deep divisions over immigration and the challenges of two forever wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Like the rest of the EU, it is still scrambling to grasp the implications of a second Trump presidency in the US which is anti-democratic, anti-truthful and anti-European. What a mess. And yet the mess is not French alone. The politics of the USA, Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium are equally poisonous and divided. Democracy and truth have gone out of fashion. The old half-truths and approximations which allowed democracy to function have been overwhelmed by outright falsehoods. Political parties have been pushed aside by the cult of personality – from Donald Trump to Nigel Farage to Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Social media and slanted 24-hour TV news channels are partly to blame. The rule of acknowledged fact and widely accepted opinion is over. It is unlikely to return. Young people never read newspapers and seldom consult traditional news sites on line. In other words, the extreme fragility of French politics in 2025 cannot be understood by looking at France alone. It is the result of a coupling of the old and the new, the domestic and the global. Advertisement There is a traditional and permanent French disenchantment with politics – a constant desire for change and a perpetual rejection of all changes. To this has been added the aggressive cynicism of the social media age which sees all mainstream politicians as corrupt and all received wisdom as a conspiracy. This is fertile ground for the Far Right, as shown by the success of Donald Trump and the surge of support for Nigel Farage in the UK. I used to argue that the Far Right could not be elected in France. I am no longer so sure. In France, we are lucky, perhaps, in having ineffectual Far Right leaders. Marine Le Pen is disturbingly likeable if you meet her but she lacks the hallucinatory mass appeal of a Trump. Bardella is good on social media but feeble on TV. France, I fear, would be ripe for plucking by a demagogue with genuine charisma and a more convincingly intellectual manner – a right-wing Mélenchon. Advertisement If not the Far Right, then who in 2027? Who could win by honestly confronting France's weaknesses and reminding France that – despite all – it gets many things right? There is Edouard Philippe, the former PM who hopes to reconcile the Macron centre with what remains of the ex-Gaullist Centre-right. He is a decent man but looks increasingly like a 1990s politician floundering in the 2020s. There is Gabriel Attal, the former PM who is struggling to transition from wonderkid to statesman. He has the impossible task of distancing himself from Macron while promising to rescue Macronism. There is Bruno Retailleau, the hard-line interior minister who wants to resurrect the Centre-right but has nothing to say on any subject but crime and immigration. Could there still be hope for a Relative Unknown, another Macron, from right, left or centre-field? It would take great luck to pull off that trick again but the TikTok Age demands instant celebrity and politics as a form of reality TV. Wanted: a moderate and well-meaning Messiah of moderate Left or Right or Centre who is ready to become, as soon as she or he is elected, the most hated person in France. Does such a person exist? Probably not.
LeMonde
02-07-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
US strikes in Iran: 'In the past, the use of force in the name of nuclear counter-proliferation has proven counterproductive'
A few days after US and Israeli strikes targeted the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites in Iran, what can be said about the effects − and effectiveness − of such actions? To provide clarity, I am offering two reminders and three corrections by drawing on the findings of independent research on military nuclear programs. First, a reminder: In the Middle East, Israel has possessed a nuclear arsenal since 1967, but to date, Iran does not have one. This is significant because the official, expert and media framings of the nuclear issue as one of "proliferation" have introduced confusion. In France, claims of an imminent Iranian bomb have been circulating since at least 2006. A survey conducted by Nuclear Knowledges/IFOP on a representative sample of the French population in October 2019, and repeated in October 2024, revealed that over 40% of respondents mistakenly believed Iran already possessed nuclear weapons (42% in 2024). Only 40% of respondents identified Israel as a nuclear-armed state from a list of countries we provided (43% in 2024). A breach of international law Second, the use of force in the name of counter-proliferation is not new, even though it constitutes a violation of international law. The US was already considering such actions against the Soviet program in the late 1940s. Three countries – the US, Israel and the United Kingdom – have engaged in such operations, and the Middle East has been their primary target, including in Iraq (1991, 1993, 1998 and 2003), Syria (2007) and Iran, notably through the assassination of nuclear scientists since the 2010s. It is also important to recall that such assassinations are not new: In 1980, Yahia el-Meshad, who was in charge of Iraq's nuclear program, was murdered in Paris. First correction: The US is commonly portrayed as a major actor in non-proliferation, but independent research has shown that it is by far the leading "proliferating" agent of the nuclear age. Not only did the US develop nuclear weapons first and produce more than 30,000 warheads, but it has also helped the largest number of other nations develop nuclear weapons programs (the United Kingdom, France, Pakistan, India, South Africa and Israel).
AsiaOne
16-06-2025
- Politics
- AsiaOne
Macron rejects Trump's idea for Putin to mediate Israel-Iran crisis, World News
PARIS/COPENHAGEN — French President Emmanuel Macron, during a visit to Greenland to offer his support to the Arctic island, said on Sunday (June 15) that Russia lacked the credibility to mediate the crisis between Israel and Iran as US President Donald Trump has suggested. In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Trump said he was open to Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine and who has resisted Trump's attempts to broker a ceasefire with Kyiv, mediating between Israel and Iran. Macron said he rejected such an idea. "I do not believe that Russia, which is now engaged in a high-intensity conflict and has decided not to respect the UN Charter for several years now, can be a mediator," Macron said. He also said France did not take part in any of Israel's attacks against Iran. Macron was visiting Greenland, a self-governing part of Denmark with the right to declare independence that Trump has threatened to take over, ahead of a trip to Canada for the Group of Seven Leaders' summit. In a press conference alongside Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Macron said the island was threatened by "predatory ambition," and that its situation was a wakeup call for all Europeans. "Greenland is not to be sold, not to be taken," he said, adding that he has spoken with Trump ahead of his trip, and would speak with him about Greenland at the G7. "I think there is a way forward in order to clearly build a better future in co-operation and not in provocation or confrontation." However, Macron said he ultimately doubted the United States would invade Greenland. "I don't believe that in the end, the US, which is an ally and a friend, will ever do something aggressive against another ally," he said, adding he believed "the United States of America remains engaged in NATO and our key and historical alliances." Trump has said he wants the United States to take over the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island, and has not ruled out force. His vice president, JD Vance, visited a US military base there in March. Macron is the first foreign leader to visit Greenland since Trump's explicit threats to "get" the island. According to an IFOP poll for published on Saturday, 77 per cent of French people and 56 per cent of Americans disapprove of an annexation of Greenland by the US and 43 per cent of the French would back using French military power to prevent a US invasion. Denmark's Frederiksen made several visits to Paris after Trump's threats to seek French and European backing, and has placed orders for French-made surface-to-air missiles, in a shift of focus for Copenhagen. [[nid:719103]]
The Hindu
15-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Macron visits Greenland to signal European resolve after Trump annexation threats
French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Greenland on Sunday (June 15, 2025), in a show of solidarity with Denmark meant to send a signal of European resolve after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to take over the island. Greenland is a self-governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark with the right to declare independence. Both the Greenland and Danish governments say it is not for sale and only Greenlanders can determine their future. President Donald Trump has said he wants the United States to take over the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island, and has not ruled out force. His vice president, JD Vance, visited a U.S. military base there in March. Trump's threat to Greenland Mr. Macron, the first foreign leader to visit Greenland since Trump's explicit threats to "get" the island, was invited by the prime ministers of Greenland and Denmark. He has said his visit is meant to prevent any "preying" on the territory. "France has stood by us since the first statements about taking our land emerged. This support is both necessary and gratifying," Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote on Facebook days ahead of Macron's visit. Asked if Macron would deliver an explicit message to the United States during his visit, an adviser to Macron told reporters: "The trip is a signal in itself," without mentioning Trump. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told RTL radio on Sunday: "Greenland is a European territory and it is normal that Europe and notably France show their interest." According to an IFOP poll for published on Saturday, 77% of the French and 56% of Americans disapprove of an annexation of Greenland by the U.S. and 43% of the French would approve using French military power to prevent a U.S. invasion. Macron will visit the capital Nuuk, as well as a hydropower station funded by the EU and a glacier, and discuss Arctic security and climate change with his hosts. Though Denmark is an EU member, Greenland is outside the bloc. The French adviser said the visit would be an opportunity to discuss how to give Greenland's association partnership with the EU a "new dimension". Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made several visits to Paris after Trump's threats to seek French and European backing, and has placed orders for French-made surface-to-air missiles, in a shift of focus for Copenhagen. Enlisting the EU's only nuclear power is a way for Denmark, long one of Washington's most loyal allies in Europe, to project a form of hard power towards a suddenly more aggressive United States, said Florian Vidal of the Paris-based IFRI think tank. "The Trump administration's more aggressive posture is a shock that makes the French vision of Europe, one that is more autonomous, appear more reasonable for Denmark," he said. "From a Nordic point of view, France is a military power that counts." (Reporting by Michel Rose in Paris and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; additional reporting by Andreas Rinke in Berlin and Dominique Vidalon in Paris; editing by Sophie Walker)
Business Recorder
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Macron visits Greenland to signal European resolve after Trump annexation threats
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Greenland on Sunday, in a show of solidarity with Denmark meant to send a signal of European resolve after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to take over the island. Greenland is a self-governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark with the right to declare independence. Both the Greenland and Danish governments say it is not for sale and only Greenlanders can determine their future. President Donald Trump has said he wants the United States to take over the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island, and has not ruled out force. His vice president, JD Vance, visited a U.S. military base there in March. Macron, the first foreign leader to visit Greenland since Trump's explicit threats to 'get' the island, was invited by the prime ministers of Greenland and Denmark. He has said his visit is meant to prevent any 'preying' on the territory. Macron warns against 'peace that is a capitulation' in Ukraine 'France has stood by us since the first statements about taking our land emerged. This support is both necessary and gratifying,' Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote on Facebook days ahead of Macron's visit. Asked if Macron would deliver an explicit message to the United States during his visit, an adviser to Macron told reporters: 'The trip is a signal in itself,' without mentioning Trump. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told RTL radio on Sunday: 'Greenland is a European territory and it is normal that Europe and notably France show their interest.' According to an IFOP poll for published on Saturday, 77% of the French and 56% of Americans disapprove of an annexation of Greenland by the U.S. and 43% of the French would approve using French military power to prevent a U.S. invasion. Macron will visit the capital Nuuk, as well as a hydropower station funded by the EU and a glacier, and discuss Arctic security and climate change with his hosts. Though Denmark is an EU member, Greenland is outside the bloc. The French adviser said the visit would be an opportunity to discuss how to give Greenland's association partnership with the EU a 'new dimension'. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made several visits to Paris after Trump's threats to seek French and European backing, and has placed orders for French-made surface-to-air missiles, in a shift of focus for Copenhagen. Enlisting the EU's only nuclear power is a way for Denmark, long one of Washington's most loyal allies in Europe, to project a form of hard power towards a suddenly more aggressive United States, said Florian Vidal of the Paris-based IFRI think tank. 'The Trump administration's more aggressive posture is a shock that makes the French vision of Europe, one that is more autonomous, appear more reasonable for Denmark,' he said. 'From a Nordic point of view, France is a military power that counts.'
