Reality hits France
Posted: 24 Aug 2016, 20:27Pretty hard. I've been tracking the changing attitudes in France. The older people who remember the ware are, quite literally, willing to give up almost everything to retain the EU.
On the other hand younger French people are not. They don't remember the war and they don't see why France should be in the situation it is in. This leads to FN taking more and more of the vote whilst the traditional politicians play the game and lose the people.
Some chunks of the article...
Really, better tell the EU about that. As far as they are concerned all treaties stand until they are replaced with another one which adds MORE, not less labour controls.
Interesting, wonder where we've heard that before... Wasn't it the French who told us that it would "never happen" and that we "couldn't have it"???
Quite.
Amazing who woulda thunk it???
And so it ends. The most relevant thing about this is that, were you to take the countries and names out of it, you could be reading the literature of the UKIP. Not mainstream politicians in France gearing up for a presidential election next year.
On the other hand younger French people are not. They don't remember the war and they don't see why France should be in the situation it is in. This leads to FN taking more and more of the vote whilst the traditional politicians play the game and lose the people.
Some chunks of the article...
The former economy minister says France voted for a left-wing French manifesto four years ago and ended up with a "right-wing German policy regime". This is objectively true. The vote was meaningless.
Mr Montebourg stops short of 'Frexit' but calls for the unilateral suspension of EU labour laws. "As far as I am concerned, the current treaties have elapsed.
Really, better tell the EU about that. As far as they are concerned all treaties stand until they are replaced with another one which adds MORE, not less labour controls.
Mr Montebourg is right is concluding that France will remain paralyzed until it takes back its sovereign instruments.
Mr Sarkozy skirts this elemental issue. His shock manifesto demands the end of EU legal primacy over French law and a repeal of the Lisbon Treaty
Interesting, wonder where we've heard that before... Wasn't it the French who told us that it would "never happen" and that we "couldn't have it"???
the same treaty that he rammed through the French parliament by party whip after it had it had already been rejected by French voters in a referendum - in its earlier guise as the European Constitution.
Quite.
Professor Thomas Guénolé from 'Sciences Po' in Paris warns against wishful thinking.
<snip>
Brexit changes the situation profoundly. The advocates of the European construction have got into the habit of defending Europe with catastrophist arguments, that it will provoke fresh wars or lead to economic collapse. But Britain is now quitting, and quite evidently this will not lead to an economic cataclysm, or to a major geo-political crisis
Amazing who woulda thunk it???
The dream has given way to nightmare. We are not going to avoid it by denying the reality, and God knows denial has been the operating mode of those in charge of EU institutions for a long time.
And so it ends. The most relevant thing about this is that, were you to take the countries and names out of it, you could be reading the literature of the UKIP. Not mainstream politicians in France gearing up for a presidential election next year.