Presidential election sans a political centre
Kurier fears that the populists will become more radical:
“Simply blaming the political opposition for the violence certainly won’t solve France’s deep-rooted structural problems. … France’s biggest challenge is that the country has lost its political centre – a disaster in view of the upcoming presidential election. The parties on both the far right and far left now see the events of the weekend as an opportunity to capitalise on the moment and secure the Élysée Palace. The closer the election date gets, the louder their extreme messages will become.”
The left is giving Le Pen a springboard
The stance adopted by La France Insoumise (LFI) plays right into Marine Le Pen’s hands, argues La Libre Belgique:
“Jean-Luc Mélenchon bears a heavy political responsibility for this escalation. … A presidential candidate cannot first fan the flames and then be surprised when a fire breaks out. … Even if LFI has the right to demand accountability when a police operation gets out of hand, this in no way exempts it from unequivocally condemning the young people and adults who loot, set things on fire, assault others and wreak havoc. … While Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants to embody the break with the past, he is providing the Rassemblement National with an excellent springboard. Marine Le Pen could not have hoped for a more effective means to revive her election campaign.”
The majority are peaceful demonstrators
Blaming the far left for the rioting is too simplistic, the Irish Examiner admonishes:
“The casseurs [the violent rioters] have little to do with the protesters. They arrived late in the day, split into small groups to move from street to street, and regrouped while police in heavy vehicles struggled to follow. They smashed LVMH and Darty stores and small family businesses alike. Those who got caught were largely the opportunistic looters. But blaming the far left for the movement itself is a convenient way of not listening. The great majority marched peacefully. Macron himself admitted that peaceful protesters should never be confused with rioters, and that people have a right to think fuel is too expensive.”
Chronic problems to resolve
France must tackle the problem at its root, entrepreneur and essayist Alexis Karklins-Marchay argues in Les Echos:
“Whether it was the Yellow Vests movement in 2018 or the demonstrations against the pension reform in 2023, the scenario is always the same: bewilderment, lofty declarations, a few cheques, then it’s all forgotten. … Yet the root causes have never been addressed: public spending that yields no results, a state authority that is challenged, an education system that no longer guarantees social mobility, and a middle class that feels caught in a vice. … The 2027 election will be truly decisive. Either France will finally take the decisions that are necessary to put its public finances in order, restore the authority of the state, put an end to the sense of impunity and rebuild trust – or it ventures into uncharted territory.”
More funding is not the answer
The Neue Zürcher Zeitung demands new solutions:
“Since the 1980s, schools in problem neighbourhoods have received more funding than those in the rest of France. … Yet all these programmes have achieved very little. … The temptation is great for France to try to resolve this latest unrest with money as well: more programmes, more reforms, more promises. But this classic French ‘solution model’ no longer works in the face of the country’s economic crisis. … This is also good news. Because the financial crisis has made necessary something that politicians have been avoiding for decades. … France must rediscover the concept of merit and renegotiate its social contract. The flip side is that anyone who wants to live in France must make their contribution.”
Debt makes everything worse
Economist Indrė Genytė-Pikčienė warns of the consequences of rising debt in IQ:
“In order to satisfy the financial markets, the French government will have no choice but to implement unpopular austerity measures: increase taxes, cut public sector spending, freeze wages or raise the retirement age. But such decisions come at a high political cost: they fuel discontent among the population. … The key lesson to be learned from this development is that debt has a tendency to erode future room for manoeuvre. The more resources you have to spend on servicing liabilities that have already accumulated, the less remains for what creates future prosperity: education, infrastructure, defence, innovation and public services.”
Catastrophic institutional failure
The country is sinking into a deep crisis, Le Point laments:
“No leading figure is proving to be up to the task. Emmanuel Macron is rejected, the presidential candidates of the democratic parties are going unheard, and the ministers all cut a poor figure. The chaos, the insurrectionist violence, the budget deficits and mountain of debt: all this is robbing France of the leeway to tackle the crisis, and is perceived as the tragic acknowledgement of failure of a regime on its way out. … October 17 will mark a turning point. France has presented the world with a shocking image. … The institutions have been shaken to the core. Trust has evaporated. Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are rubbing their hands with glee.”
Modernisation was the goal, chaos the result
Proto Thema worries:
“Citizens are seeing their quality of life deteriorate while continuing to pay high taxes. Young people fear they will be worse off than their parents. And governments respond with promises they know they cannot keep. It’s everyone against everyone. The perfect recipe for chaos and the triumph of extremism. Emmanuel Macron was elected almost a decade ago as the man who would bridge old ideological divides and modernise France. Today, as he ends his term in office, he leaves behind a deeply divided society and a political centre that is struggling to win over even its traditional supporters.”
Clash of extremists
France correspondent Stefan Brändle comments in Der Standard:
“The underlying reason for the tensions is that the French Republic makes a promise to its young citizens that it is unable to keep: the promise of equality – égalité. Those who grow up in the banlieues generally experience this failed promise first-hand. … The greatest responsibility, however, lies with two political extremists. On the right, Marine Le Pen is challenging the existing order simply by standing as a presidential candidate. For his part, left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon is adding fuel to the fire of the student protests on a daily basis, and what’s more, undermining the authority of the state and the police – who have never acted particularly intelligently in France. … The clash between these two extremists is dividing and eroding democracy in the country, and inevitably bringing the conflict to boiling point.”
Look at who is benefitting
De Morgen believes it is important to identify those who stand to gain from violent protests:
“The question is not only who is behind the masks, but also who stands to gain politically from these crimes. … The answer is: Marine Le Pen. Every firebomb and every act of looting plays into the hands of the French far right because it increases the public’s calls for order. Much to the delight of Putin, who once secured a loan for Le Pen and is counting on her to withdraw support for Ukraine, as well as Trump, whose national security strategy encourages parties like hers.”
Non-violent elsewhere
Turmoil and vandalism have become normalised in France, writes El País:
“The scenes of destruction in France have less to do with student demands than with a desire to lash out at the symbols of the Republic and destabilise a European democracy. … The world has already grown accustomed to these images from France that would be unacceptable in any other democracy. We need only recall the protests over the housing crisis in Spain a few days ago to understand that it is possible to express discontent on the streets and demand social improvements without resorting to violence.”
Danger of a euro crisis
France’s economic crisis is likely to worsen, Ilta-Sanomat fears:
“There is no solution in sight – and the protests show no sign of abating. At the same time, France’s public finances are heading for disaster. Next year, public debt is set to rise to over 120 percent of GDP, and the budget deficit is at 5.4 percent. … The danger of a euro crisis is obvious, and this would increase the impact of the French crisis on Finland. The economic crises in Greece and Italy were minor compared to what a crisis in Europe’s second-largest economy could mean for the continent.”