Our columnist Mathieu Bock Côte is currently based in France, where he follows French news from a Quebec perspective.
I have often believed that politics was the only sphere of existence which proves the possibility of the resurrection of bodies, and last year in France tended to confirm this belief to me.
Let me explain: for several years, most analysts and commentators have agreed to bury the decomposing body of the French left. History has condemned her that she will not be reborn.
Its various parties seemed exhausted: Jean-Luc Mélenchon was old and his party was too crazy, the environmentalists were too achy, the Communist Party belonged to the Ice Age, and the Socialist Party was nothing more than an old shop that believed in it. It had a state culture, but it was nothing more than a shadow of its “glorious” history.
Melenchon
Then the story turned.
Jean-Luc Melenchon took more than one honors in the presidential election, convincing left-wing voters that he was the only one who could stop Marine Le Pen from making it to the second round. I came very close to achieving that.
And since the evening of the first round, he pledged to rebuild the left, seeking to collect his remains and stumps into a new political bloc.
We can think of what we want from his ideas, but he had a real strategic sense by turning the legislative elections in June into a rematch, to the point of claiming to present himself there as prime minister, when in theory and in practice it is impractical in the French political system.
Then creating a dynamic continues.
For about two weeks, Jean-Luc Melenchon vowed to gather the left around him, and he succeeded.
First he’s got the horde of environmentalists – it must be said, they have a super element in their ranks, something that naturally aligns with the radical left.
Then he won the support of the Communist Party, which he harshly criticized during the presidential campaign, but was very happy to forget his grievances from a small place in the new coalition.
The last step: swallow the socialists. It was more complicated. The historic party of the French Left found it difficult to become a secondary partner in this new coalition.
However, he joined this company, despite the repudiation of some of his important personalities who consider the alliance with Jean-Luc Mélenchon to be the alliance with Satan.
Or at least, they pretend to believe, inasmuch as many did not hesitate to ally with the Communist Party even in its worst years, when it was under the orders of the Soviet Union.
Nudes
Nevertheless, the result is convincing: the “moderate” left took off, that is, subjugated to the radical left.
This new alliance has a name: Nupes. The new ecological and social union.
She has very little chance of winning the legislative elections.
But it will allow the left to be reborn and to regain an important place in the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, the right, which was said to be dominant, is in danger of political disappearance.
I will be back there next week.
inauguration Emmanuel Macron
France is a republic, but it has retained a certain institutional splendor from its royal past. We do not speak without reason of the palaces of the Republic, and it is enough to walk around Paris to see to what extent the regime resulting from the revolution borrowed the clothes of the regime that fought. And that’s what we saw again yesterday at Emmanuel Macron’s swearing-in ceremony. Psychologically, France is still a monarchy.
What is the state? to president ?
Emmanuel Macron campaigned in the first round on the center right, then the second round clearly on the left. Many are wondering, as they have been asking for five years moreover: What is the macro at the end? pragmatic? opportunism? A belief capable of adapting to all circumstances and saying one thing and its opposite? Perhaps we will have to wait for the outcome of the legislative elections to see what direction Emmanuel Macron will take for his second five-year term.
Ukraine, repeatedly
There is a paradox: while the issue of Ukraine is no longer number one in the news, it seems to be becoming more and more radical. This week, Vladimir Putin was conducting a nuclear missile launch exercise. And the Russians say that sooner or later they will consider the Westerners enemies in themselves, because they are arming the Ukrainians. We feel that the situation may turn into a misunderstanding, and lead Europe to hell.
