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- cross-posted to:
- world
- [email protected]
French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled his new government almost three months after a snap general election delivered a hung parliament.
The long-awaited new line up, led by Prime Minister Michel Barnier, marks a decisive shift to the right, even though a left-wing alliance won most parliamentary seats.
It comes as the European Union puts France on notice over its spiralling debt, which now far exceeds EU rules.
Among those gaining a position in the new cabinet is Bruno Retailleau, a key member of the conservative Republicans Party founded by former president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Just one left-wing politician was given a post in the cabinet, independent Didier Migaud, who was appointed as justice minister.
France’s public-sector deficit is projected to reach around 5.6% of GDP this year and go over 6% in 2025. The EU has a 3% limit on deficits.
Michel Barnier, a veteran conservative, was named as Macron’s prime minister earlier this month.
Members of the left-wing alliance, the New Popular Front (NFP) have threatened a no-confidence motion in the new government.
Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon called for the new government to “be got rid of” as soon as possible.
On Saturday, before the cabinet announcement, thousands of left-wing supporters demonstrated in Paris against the incoming government, arguing that the left’s performance in the election was not taken into consideration.
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Remember a bunch of years ago when the news were all about cheering this guy for having defeat his fascist opponent?
Cut a Liberal and a Fascist bleeds
Macron really going out of his way to fuck over the French people, eh? Calls snap elections right after the far right wins big in eu elections, then refuses to follow the will of the people when said election backfires.
Part of my thinks the left will be better off in opposition, though.
Calls snap elections right after the far right wins big in eu elections
That’s the only reason they did that lmao. They were hoping the far-right would win, and ignored the results because they didn’t.
During the 2022 election the French left was saying “A vote for Macron in 2022 is a vote for Le Pen in 2027”.
They appear to be right on schedule.
Bit weird that the left have won the elections, yet the president gets to decide how the government is formed…
It’s not that rare in Europe actually, for example Poland have very similar government forming procedure, and guess what, after most recent elections Polish president Duda tried to do identical maneuver, but unlike in France the elections weren’t this close so he didn’t really tried to do de-facto coup like Macron, just mostly maneuvered to exhaust all his time-delaying procedures to give his party colleagues from ending term time to jump the ship safely, destroy the compromising documents (literally, the central security service ABW bought lots of large paper shredders right after elections)
France has a weird hybrid Presidential/Parliamentary system that no other country has and is really confusing.
Most other countries either have a diminished President whose only real duty is making sure there is a Prime Minister that has a mandate to lead or an empowered President that has a democratic mandate and has more leeway to run the government’s administration.
That is confusing, indeed.
It is, but that’s also a defining feature of the presidential system as opposed to the parliamentary system.
I think it is designed this way since France is pretty pro Big Government
Macron took his mask off and never put it back on.
Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon
Mélenchon. Far-left. Come on!
At best left, not remotely far left.
Exactly
Don’t mind me. I’m jist digging through my post history to give a big fat “I told you so” to all the liberals on Lemmy.
I’m hoping the Communists in France have been reading their Lenin. I can’t think of a better gift Macron could have given the communists. “Left-Wing” Communism, an Infantile Disorder
Chapter 9: “Left-Wing” Communism in Great Britian
Lloyd GeorgeMacron entered into a polemic… with those Liberals who want, not a coalition with the Conservatives, but closer relations with theLabour PartyNew Popular Front (NPF)…Lloyd GeorgeMacron argued that a coalition—and a close coalition at that—between the Liberals and the Conservatives was essential, otherwise there might be a victory for theLabour PartyNPF whichLloyd GeorgeMacron prefers to call “Socialist” … “In Germany it was called socialism, and in Russia it is called Bolshevism,” he went on to say. To Liberals this is unacceptable on principle,Lloyd GeorgeMacron explained, because they stand in principle for private property. “Civilisation is in jeopardy,” the speaker declared, and consequently Liberals and Conservatives must unite. . . .… Thus the liberal bourgeoisie are abandoning the historical system of “two parties” (of exploiters), which has been hallowed by centuries of experience and has been extremely advantageous to the exploiters, and consider it necessary for these two parties to join forces against the
Labour PartyNPF.…
At present,BritishFrench Communists very often find it hard even to approach the masses, and even to get a hearing from them. If I come out as a Communist and call upon them to vote forHendersonCastets and Mélenchon and againstLloyd GeorgeMacron and Le Pen they will certainly give me a hearing. And I shall be able to explain in a popular manner, not only why the Soviets are better than a parliament and why the dictatorship of the proletariat is better than the dictatorship ofChurchillBarnier and Le Pen (disguised with the signboard of bourgeois “democracy”), but also that, with my vote, I want to supportHendersonCastets and the NPF in the same way as the rope supports a hanged man—that the impending establishment of a government of theHendersonsCastets will prove that I am right, will bring the masses over to my side, and will hasten the political death of theHendersonsCastetses and theSnowdensMélenchons just as was the case with their kindred spirits in Russia and Germany.…
This has stripped more and more active and engaged and hopeful people of their illusions about bourgeois democracy than even bernie-clinton 2016 nonsense. Which even that created a lot of communists; and that was relatively milquetoast compared to this huge national mobilization and upswell and coalition movement which was big enough to make international headlines no less. If the French communists have been reading their Lenin and agitating on this stuff even before it happened (as you said, very predictable) then the communist movement has gained 10x more than any eurosocialist thinks “the left” lost.Link back any hilarious replies
So…does France go apeshit, or are they all revolutioned out?
Plenty of people are protesting for one cause or another, see the troubles at the olympics. You don’t hear much about it on mass media anymore because governments figured out that it’s better to keep silent about it or protests spread.
To be fair we’re pretty tired and hopeless, most people are apathetic now because nothing seems to be working.
Strikes and demonstrations are vilified by the media, the left is not united enough to hit as hard as they should, the president is a child throwing tantrums to have it the way he wants, the media is owned by very few people so they control the narrative, etc.
It honestly feels hopeless, most people want change, but to a lot of people the demonising of the left has worked and the far right seems to be a reasonable option now.
It’s gonna get a lot worse before it gets better unfortunately…
Sounds a bit like the US when you describe it that way…
I’d say we’re still far from it, but that’s definitely where we’re headed full steam
I hope you can avoid it because it’s shit. 🙃
because nothing seems to be working.
This is an inspiring sign for communists. No reason for pessimism. A large mobilization of masses of engaged politically active workers in a state where the masses still largely believe in parliamentarism; who formed sprawling coalitions into a large left national upswelling that also made international headlines, now have themselves and onlookers been shown, better than any propaganda alone ever could, why bourgeois liberal democracy is an impediment to progress rather than a channel for it; and that the Liberals will side with the fascists to keep the left from getting an inch. This has made more communists than you probably realize. Especially if your communists have been reading their Lenin and agitating on this point, which probably a lot of workers didn’t even need much agitation to expect this because of the state of things and how just… unbearably awful Macron is in every way
VI Lenin: LWC Chapter 9: “Left-Wing” Communism in Great Britian
Lloyd GeorgeMacron entered into a polemic… with those Liberals who want, not a coalition with the Conservatives, but closer relations with theLabour PartyNew Popular Front (NPF)…Lloyd GeorgeMacron argued that a coalition—and a close coalition at that—between the Liberals and the Conservatives was essential, otherwise there might be a victory for theLabour PartyNPF whichLloyd GeorgeMacron prefers to call “Socialist” … “In Germany it was called socialism, and in Russia it is called Bolshevism,” he went on to say. To Liberals this is unacceptable on principle,Lloyd GeorgeMacron explained, because they stand in principle for private property. “Civilisation is in jeopardy,” the speaker declared, and consequently Liberals and Conservatives must unite. . . .… Thus the liberal bourgeoisie are abandoning the historical system of “two parties” (of exploiters), which has been hallowed by centuries of experience and has been extremely advantageous to the exploiters, and consider it necessary for these two parties to join forces against the
Labour PartyNPF.…
At present,BritishFrench Communists very often find it hard even to approach the masses, and even to get a hearing from them. If I come out as a Communist and call upon them to vote forHendersonCastets and Mélenchon and againstLloyd GeorgeMacron and Le Pen they will certainly give me a hearing. And I shall be able to explain in a popular manner, not only why the Soviets are better than a parliament and why the dictatorship of the proletariat is better than the dictatorship ofChurchillBarnier and Le Pen (disguised with the signboard of bourgeois “democracy”), but also that, with my vote, I want to supportHendersonCastets and the NPF in the same way as the rope supports a hanged man—that the impending establishment of a government of theHendersonsCastets will prove that I am right, will bring the masses over to my side, and will hasten the political death of theHendersonsCastetses and theSnowdensMélenchons just as was the case with their kindred spirits in Russia and Germany.…
It is a good day friend. Communism will win, and these liberal politicians are helping it do so. Don’t let the systems and their media and propaganda make you believe otherwise in their lies. They’re trying to convince you of your own defeat because of the implications if you don’t believe you have been, and instead realize they’re selling you the rope they will be hanged with; and you push harder in smarter ways that they can’t keep up with, using connections built in these mass movements and coalitions which invariably have radical new elements that just need drawn together.You’re ahead of them in this. They’ve, in a very real dialectical way, undermined liberal democracy and created more enemies to the capitalist systems and institutions than they made allies, by their own blunders in being incapable of conceding anything to intelligently reify socialists back into feckless parliamentary legitimization of bourgeois democracy, and their failures to navigate contradictions in ways that aren’t so short-sighted to look absolutely villainous to huge swathes of the population (and internationally, because this was a large enough movement to make headlines around the world; with a knock-on effect for the international proles who see parallels). Macron’s so scared of radical politics he’s making them everywhere he steps.
Sounds like copium to me. The neolibs have really figured out how to placate the masses. Things aren’t bad enough and the media keeps the majority unaware.
I’m not saying what they’ll do but the concept of the French being “revolutioned out” borders on comical. It may be beheadings or merely stacking trash in the street, but they aren’t known for staying quiet.
I think they will go increasingly Vichy just with Berlin replaced with Washington, through Berlin.
You’re telling me writing something on a piece of paper in a liberal system predicated on being capitalist can’t actually get rid of liberals?
Organize, comrades.
France could use a new Republic. what’re they on, six now?
id recommend a commune
But this time seize the fucking bank
- The united left wants a sixth with major change from that slow inefficient fifth.
It took me a while to understand what you meant because we don’t write anything on our ballots. There are piles of small cards with one candidate (or list) on each, we (are supposed to) pick one of each and put one in the envelope.
But yeah, I agree with your take.If voting changed anything they wouldn’t let us do it.
There are actually people trying to prevent voting by people other than their constituents.
France uses an In Person Paper Ballot system, with preregistration.
Whats your opinion on NATO?
FYI you’re banned on basically every lefty instance/community so OP probably can’t see your comment
2 of them saw and downvoted lmao
There is nothing lefty about a bunch of Pro-CCP cocksuckers
Ah yes, [email protected], famous for
- Anti-Imperialism means recognizing capitalist states like Russia and China as such, as well as condemning (their) imperialism, even if it is of the “anti-USA” flavor.
…being “a bunch of Pro-CCP cocksuckers”
Here is a LINK to a community mod over there arguing against Democracy Itself. The same one to ban me.
What you’re calling “social democracy” is a capitalist dictatorship with minor concessions to the working class. Countries that live off of imperialism of “former” colonies just like liberal “democracies” / capitalist dictatorships like France (which always inevitably slide towards fascism like we’re seeing right now) but give some of the loot to the working class.
The ruling capitalist class of these countries had to give these concessions because of their proximity to the USSR and threat of a working class revolution. It’s a way of cementing capitalist rule similar to fascism. And now that the threat is gone, these concessions are gradually being undone.
I’m surprised /u/ansaas actually touched on that to the extent she did. I was under the impression that was a socdem community. Guess I misjudged them.
Her comment itself is a good answer if you're willing to read, even if I don't agree on some of her points.
Autocracy?! That’s not what that word means. Tsarism was autocracy, Chiang Kai-shek was basically an autocrat.
What you are talking about is a revisionist degenerated workers state (or bourgeois state of a new type in the case of contemporary China) in which the bureaucracy grew too strong to a quasi caste-like status above the rest of the population. There were attempts to correct this in both the USSR (workers/left/united opposition) and in the PRC (Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution) but both were crushed
So it’s definitely smth we should learn from, to not repeat those mistakes. But that does not mean turning to the snake oil that is social democracy/democratic socialism which believe that somehow we can magically convince the ruling classes of systemic change and that they will give up power voluntarily. (And even if you manage somehow to wrestle significant concessions, they will either be rolled back after 30yrs or you’ll get the bullet in a fascist coup)
EDIT: Even under bureaucratic state socialism, there still was collective rule. Yes cults of personality were established around key figures (e.g. Stalin and Mao) but you can look up CIA documents where they dismiss that Stalin had abolished collective leadership (though ofc he still was the figurehead of the bureaucracy and the dominant force). Mao had an even stronger cult of personality, but a far “weaker” position than Stalin and the leadership was far more collective (just an fyi: this is why Mao called for a cultural revolution, which was a grassroots movement btw. The capitalist roaders (party bureaucrats who wanted to get back to capitalism but keep their privileged party posts) where gaining more and more power and he was not in a dictatorial position to stop them at will. So he had to organize a mass students and youth movement. Ofc there were excesses and errors there as well)
And despite the corrupt character AES brought forth massive progress in all fields of society. Free education up to university for everyone who didn’t slack at school. Millions of emancipated people learned to read for the first time ever. Massive scientific progress. Access to culture for millions. Making things like theatre, operas, ballet, cinema and chess accessible (and affordable !) for the masses. Making sure everyone had a place to work, sleep, smth to eat and clean water. Giving women the right to work, vote, choose whom or even if to marry, to go through life unveiled and just generally choose their own lives.(but this is one of the errors again. Patriarchal social structures were still kept and social conservatism took hold, which is why women rarely if ever had the rly high positions and were barred from the military f.e.) Making sure every child had a place at a crib or kindergarten. Making good quality healthcare accessible to all free of charge. Including vaccinating even the furthest regions, that had never even seen a doctor before.
This might not seem all that impressive to the priviliged liberal, but you have to look at the state the regions where in before: semi-feudalism at best (and/or bombed into the 3rd world after WW2)
Ofc there were excesses and mistakes, as already stated. But that does not negate their achievements.
TL;DR: dismissing state socialism as “something that didn’t work for the people” is disingenuous and disregards the fact that it did work and that, despite its flaws, it worked for hundreds of millions of people. We should not demonize previous socialist experiments, neither should we glorify them, but constructively learn from their mistakes when striving for a class-, state-, and moneyless society (aka communism, which is materially possible in todays world and not an idealist utopia, but a historic necessity if humanity is to progress as a species and not devolve into barbarism/fascism)
good short clips of Parenti talking if anyone’s interested (he put it rly well imo)
What I called Democracy in the afforementioned thread was a hypothetical Democracy which redistrubes wealth and holds all people accountable as equals. An institution where people vote on policy and/or leaders to create a society thar benefits as many people as possible: the definition of the word.
But sure Slurp Slurp Slurp, cocksucker.
The assemblée nationale can block and cause the prime minister to resign can’t they? Can the left wing alliance not join forces again to veto the pm appointment? I guess the problem is that they managed to do it to repel the le pen’s party but not all left leaning parties are similarly united against Barnier’s government.
They could but they won’t have enough votes to go through with it unfortunately. The assembly is roughly 33% of the three big groups, the united left, Macron’s party and the far right. With the united left having slightly more seats than the other two.
