EMMANUEL MACRON the new President of France is a classic corporatist, eurofanatic, Blairite elitist whose ideas are fundamentally rejected by 50% of the people of France. 25% of the French did not vote in the presidential election’s final round, a record 11% of votes cast were spoiled ballots and 34% of those who cast valid votes voted for Marine Le Pen.
Within 48 hours of his election Macron suffered: a German Rejection of his Euro bond idea; a violent leftist demonstration in Paris; and his offer to a Republican party regional Government head of a Cabinet post was rejected. Macron’s domestic policy ideas are sensible but have no hope of being accepted and his ideas for reforming the European Union he admires are rejected by Germany.
Like Alexis Tsipras in Greece the only leverage Macron has over Germany is to threaten to leave the EU – but like Tsipras he rules that out. France will be another Greece.
Macron is a classic supra-nationalist Blairite “moderniser” as he calls himself. His background is in academic life, the Rothschild Bank (where he made a million Euros on one deal – the sale of a Pfizer business to Nestle) appointment by President Hollande to the Economics Ministry and now election as President of France – having never before stood for election to parliament. His famous “Loi Macron” (which increased Sunday Trading, liberalised the Labour market, introduced competition in coach services and the professions) was imposed over the heads of Parliament when it was clear it would not pass! (That passes for democracy in many EU countries!)
Macron got into politics over dinner – a dinner hosted for President Hollande by that arch civil servant and europhile Jacques Attali who founded the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and served both the socialist Mitterand 1981-1991 and the Conservative Sarkozy 2008 – 2010.
And when Macron engineered his big deal for Pfizer and Nestle this was also not based on merit but on a useful “introduction” to the then Chairman of Nestle while working for a Commission set up by President Sarkozy! How these corporatists weave their webs. From State to boardroom, from boardroom to State, from civil servant to industry. Macron trained for the senior civil service at the famous “Ecole Nationale d’Administration” whose “Enarques” are scattered throughout the French State and big business – easily coordinating the policies of the State with business and the needs of business with State support.
Macron comes from a socialist household and like all corporate socialist authoritarians Macron fits easily into the combination of corporatist right and authoritarian elitist left which has alienated voters all over Europe and which has always been the basis of fascist systems.
That this extreme philosophy has once again been sold as “centrist” (as it has been in Germany, Italy, Britain and elsewhere) is extraordinary. That “centre” is extreme. (see the two articles on this website “The Ugly Face of the Euro-fascist Right” and “The ugly face of the euro-fascist left”) It promotes the abolition of nation states, the abolition of democratic constitutions, the Euro which leads to social breakdown, 50% – 60% youth unemployment and mass migration, rule by bureaucratic elites, anti-semitism and the exodus of Jews from Europe. Its what the new supranational rulers call “liberalism”!!
And for all this Macron’s solution is more Europe, more centralism, less power for national parliaments, a banking union (despite the Euro’s banks being in a state of collapse) and open borders. He is also keen to build more mosques in France.
Macron’s de haut en bas elitism (born of never having to actually serve his fellow citizens directly with personal responsibility for his work) was on embarrassing display when, on visiting a factory he referred to the “illiterate workers”. How reminiscent of the quote from a judge’s wife in Britain after the Brexit vote (which was particularly strong among the working class in the North of England): “”I don’t see why my son should be denied a job at Goldman Sachs because of a bunch of Northern white trash!”
Macron got only 48% of the electorate of France – and most of them probably just wanted to avoid the Front National rather than vote positively for him – an untried, previously non elected politician without a party! He will have to get a party quickly, stand for the parliamentary elections and get his party into parliament to pass his legislation – because as we saw above his great legislative achievement was due to his bypassing the existing parliament which would never pass his policies into law!
Macron has no feeling for France – “French culture does not exist” and he even had the EU’s anthem (Beethoven’s Ode to Joy!!) played as he thanked his supporters. In his opportunistic trawl for votes he promised to build more mosques and will doubtless swallow the “Islamophobia” myth and attack those who are being attacked rather than the Islamists who are attacking them!
He is a typical French or German Euro-statist. They either have a Kaiser complex (Germany will control Europe) or a Napoleonic complex (France will control Europe). Each side of the Rhein thinks it can control the other. France is, in the modern age, always wrong. When Germany controls, economic and democratic chaos ensue. France insisted on the Euro to control Germany but Germany (4% unemployment) has got richer as France (10% unemployment) has collapsed.
Both the far left Melenchon (“A monster is born across the Rhein”) and the Front National rejected the EU, oppose German hegemony, wish France to exist as a nation state, wish to stop mass immigration and each saw the results for French workers of corporate power sucking in migrants to reduce wage levels.
They were both right in so much but each went over the top in critical ways and made themselves unelectable. We should be thankful that the British have found a way between extremes – and have a parliamentary system which is not disfigured by Presidential elections.
