The ugly selfishness of France’s politicians

France play Spain this evening in the semi-final of the European football championship, and there may be a smile on the faces of some of the French players. Several have been social media in the last 24 hours, expressing their satisfaction with the success of the left-wing coalition in the election. 

‘Congratulations to all the French people who rallied round so that this beautiful country of France does not find itself governed by the extreme right’, said Jules Koundé. Aurélien Tchouaméni, who, like Koundé, plays his club football in Spain, called the result a ‘victory for the people’.

That’s not strictly true. More people voted for the National Rally than any other party: ten million in total (36 per cent), compared to 7.5 million for the left-wing coalition (25 per cent) and 7 million for Macron’s centrist alliance (23 per cent). But because the left and the centrists worked together to block the National Rally in the second round, they won the most seats in parliament.

Benjamin Morel, a lecturer in public law at the university of Paris Panthéon-Assas, believes that National Rally voters would have woken on Monday with a sense of ‘democratic frustration’.

This has now turned into rage. Radio phone-ins have been inundated with bitter men and women, and journalists who ventured into the heartlands of National Rally encountered similar anger. ‘Defeat hurts because you feel like you’ve been robbed of victory… beaten by a sort of thing that looks like nothing, with Mélenchonistes and Macronistes,’ complained one man.

Sunday night’s result was not, as Tchouaméni claims, a victory for the people; it was a victory for a proportion of the people, mainly those who live in the cities. Incidentally, viewing figures for French matches in this year’s European Championships are up to 15 per cent down on the 2021 tournament. True, the team isn’t playing spectacular football but the inability of some players to keep their political opinions to themselves may also be a factor. ‘This trend among athletes, singers and artists of telling the French how they should vote…The French are sick and tired of being lectured to,’ said Marine Le Pen last week.

Le Pen supporters are more sick and more tired than ever after Sunday evening. In truth, no French person should be triumphant this week. The last month has not reflected well on the Republic.

The election campaign was generally a negative one. Instead of talking honestly and courageously about the many problems that face France, such as crises in housing, education, health and insecurity, not to mention the country’s crippling debt, the politicians spent an inordinate amount of time scoring petty points at each other’s expense.

They’re still doing it. On Monday, the Green MP Cyrielle Chatelain, a member of the left-wing coalition, demanded another ‘barrage’ in order to ensure no key posts in the National Assembly go to any of the National Rally’s 143 MPs. Would Le Pen and her party – since Sunday the single biggest party in parliament – want any posts? Hung parliaments rarely run smoothly, particularly ones that include scores of MPs from a radical left party. A group of senior business leaders also expressed their fear on Monday as to what the future holds, describing the left’s economic manifesto as ‘astonishing and dangerous.’

Many of the better-off bourgeoisie in Paris and other cities voted for the left, a significant factor in Sunday’s surprise result. They may come to regret their choice in the months ahead. It is their money that Jean-Luc Melenchon has his eye on. Most National Rally voters aren’t rich enough to worry about what the left might do to their wealth; they have other problems.

In the Yonne, the Departement where I live, the relentless rain this year has damaged the soil, delaying the harvest for farmers. An article in the local paper last month warned that ‘socially, the anger persists and the mobilisation of [farmers in] February is far from forgotten’. That sentence should send a shudder through the ruling class.

With an upturn in the weather, my neighbouring farmer spent the weekend haymaking and he was out in the fields again yesterday. Like 268 other people in my rural community, he voted for the National Rally (out of 513 ballots cast) with the Socialists second with 122.

Jules Koundé is correct to call France a ‘beautiful country’ but its political class is ugly. Sunday’s election result has thrown the country into turmoil. The winners aren’t the people, but the duplicitous and self-interested careerists who pass for politicians. They aren’t interested in Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité; they’re interested only in themselves.

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