‘La France ne peut être la France sans la grandeur† France cannot be France without greatness, the legendary President Charles de Gaulle once said. Of course, that thought was not crazy in a country where glorious figures such as Charlemagne, Louis XIV and Napoleon once illuminated the whole world.
De Gaulle’s successors, Pompidou, Giscard d’Estaing, Mitterrand, Chirac, Sarkozy and Hollande, have also repeatedly tried to emphasize France’s power and international prestige. The French people, at least in the eyes of the French themselves, were in control of their own destiny.
Current President Emmanuel Macron is no exception in this regard: ‘The world and Europe need France more than ever. A strong France that speaks out loudly for freedom and solidarity,” Macron confidently proclaimed during his inaugural address on May 14, 2017 at the Élysée Palace.
But what has become of Macron’s big words in recent years? His personal mission to save Lebanon has failed miserably. France has given up on Mali after nine years of military presence in the fight against advancing jihadism. The French lost a multimillion-dollar contract for the sale of submarines after Australia, the US and the UK signed the so-called Aukus pact behind their backs.
Macron, despite visits and phone calls to Russian President Putin, has failed to de-escalate the crisis between Russia and Ukraine at all. France has not even been able to produce a working vaccine during the corona crisis with pharmaceutical giant Sanofi.
Is oh-so-proud France still relevant in the world? Or do the French president and his more than 65 million compatriots serve their grandeur from now on to search the history books?
Rudi Wester studied French language and literature, was a critic of French literature for many years and director of the Institut Néerlandais in Paris.
In his more than four-hour election rally on March 17, Macron mainly set himself up as the only captain who can safely steer France through current and future storms. No more ‘revolution’, as he promised in 2017. No big plans for the grandeur of France to perpetuate. Where are the technical feats of the past, such as the supersonic passenger plane Concorde? Where are the ingenious designers who created the Pike (Citroën DS, red.) made such a success? The French car industry is currently in an unprecedented crisis. The exploitation of the current showpiece, the high-speed train TGV, also causes enormous losses, to the detriment of the ordinary train for the ordinary Frenchman.
Monarch President Macron keeps up appearances with his very expensive receptions at the Palace of Versailles and his impressive military parades. But France is a giant on clay feet, the domestic problems such as education, bureaucracy and loss of purchasing power are enormous. A revival of France as a world power seems possible only in Europe, with Germany as an equal partner.
‘It is as Rosa Luxemburg wrote: ‘The strength and the weakness of France is that its fate swings back and forth between greatness and mediocrity.’
Niek Pas is assistant professor of French contemporary history at the University of Amsterdam and wrote about Macron and the new French revolution.
“In France, greatness and decay are like yin and yang. Universalist pretensions are part of collective memory and political culture. The same goes for stories of decline and loss of power. Where France once fertilized the continents with its lofty ideals, that world is increasingly imposing itself. The proud nation is struggling to navigate the complex playing field of globalization.
‘In sobriety, there is little reason for self-pity. In figures, France is firmly in the global top 10 economically and militarily. The diplomatic network has worldwide coverage. The same applies to the linguistic-cultural web of Francophonie.
Macron is the most European-oriented president since the establishment of the Fifth Republic in 1958. His wish is also to reform the EU as an economic union more deeply politically and militarily. Sovereignty, peace and security are paramount. Until the Russian invasion of Ukraine, these were mainly views and policy documents. Above all, Macron’s wishful thinking always put the French interest first.
“The war makes it clear that France and the EU are important to each other. Via Paris, Brussels is a nuclear power and has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. On the other hand, the old continent of France offers mass and modernity. In short, Europe must think more French and vice versa, Macron must act more European.’
Frederik Dhondt is senior lecturer in legal history at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and a French expert.
‘France remains a rich and developed country, with great international influence. The public expects the country to shine like a beacon for the world. But the Republican promise of equality (social mobility, good public services) is under pressure. Urbanization is at the expense of the countryside, which is at the same time idealized as the real heritage to be cherished.
‘The left criticizes the threats of liberalization and delocation, or denounces the scarcity of secure, fixed career paths for young people. The right speaks of a beleaguered French identity and cultivates a one-sided, nationalistic view of the past. Many oppose the EU, America and China.
The French presidential candidates recognize this emotional complex: it is the key to connect with the voter and transcend fatalism. Macron preaches the to be regained sovereignty popular (production, food supply), the radical right-wing Éric Zemmour promises extra premiums for births in rural areas. The radical leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon evokes the spirit of the radical phase of the Revolution, to put power in the hands of the people in a ‘Sixième République’, a Sixth Republic.
‘The grandeur is a matter of appearance: politicians have to lift their fellow citizens with words to sell the French model.’
Laurent Chambon is a French political scientist who studies minorities in politics in the Netherlands and France. He wrote, among other things, a book about Marine Le Pen.
‘The French grandeur is a screen on which everyone projects their fantasies. The extreme right wants, like De Gaulle, from NATO, while the latter has signed the independence of all colonies (including Algeria). The left wants resistance à la de Gaulle, and forgets that the revolution of 1968 was mainly against Gaullism. Macron poses as a Grand President, but hath the three pillars of the état gaulliste (care, justice and education) has already been almost completely dismantled, the military industry sold to foreigners and the various grandes administrations secretly replaced by overpaid McKinsey consultants.
‘France is a complex mixture of genius (liberté, égalité, fraternitéthe Declaration of Human Rights, classical poetry), shameful elements (slavery, colonization, Le Pen and Zemmour) and many mediocre moments where it was neither big nor small.
“Of course there is enormous pressure for the French to be ‘normal’. Police, justice and schools ensure the ruthless continuation of the established order. In addition to grammar and spelling, our classical upbringing also includes sabotage, mistrust and romantic heroism. Right there, between the orderly elements, next to the gold, the symmetry and an over-armed military police, there is room for heartbreaking texts, revolutionary ideas and alternative beauty guns like the nouvelle vague, Oulipo, Debussy or Le Corbusier. This is what France I think sometimes grande makes, despite its kings and presidents.’