Article by Debalina Ghoshal
The recent protests in France have led to severe mayhem and destruction across the city of Paris, the capital of France. In addition, many protesters have demanded for the French President Emmanuel Macron’s resignation from his post of president.
Several political leaders in France, including from opposition parties as well his own party, have advised him to exit early. Amid these developments, this article draws out the fallacies of exiting early and allowing more mayhem to sweep in with Macron’s exit.
The article aims to identify the key areas which are in urgent need of focus for governance measures, but exiting early is preposterous for France’s internal security as well as regional stability.
In fact, the author insists that at this point of global turmoil, none of the countries in Western Europe must alter its leadership until 2028 especially as the Russia-Ukraine conflict gets worse. But in order to restrict the scope of this article to France’s state of affairs, the focus is confined to President Macron’s throne.
In 2027, France would witness the presidential elections in which the present president must not contest owing to constitutional arrangements in France. Thus, it is only right that he completes his tenure until next year. Protesting through vandalisation to overthrow existing governance structure in power can not be normalised in democracy. This is because democracy is ‘by the people, for the people and of the people.’
Public voice is always more powerful, but they can not be allowed to turn unruly in democratic structures of governance. Normalising such processes to overthrow existing leadership could result in similar instances taking place post 2027 elections to overthrow newly elected government in power. French President Emmanuel Macron will leave office and retire from active politics in May 2027 when his second and final term ends. Under the French Constitution, presidents are restricted to a maximum of two consecutive terms, making Macron ineligible to run for re-election in 2027.
France is a Nuclear Weapon State (NWS) and permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Thus, the leaders of the opposition parties must stand strong with the current leadership and help to mitigate this crisis situation rather than demanding a resignation.
A joint task force with experts from opposition as well as Macron’s own party must sit down and bring out possible solutions to French demands.
It is only then that a smooth transition of power could take place in 2027, though this would be the most fatal mistake Paris would commit at this time owing to Russian supremacy around the neighbourhood.
Paris leadership will be vulnerable to challenging a country with leadership that is getting older than wine.
As of now, none of the opposition parties has been able to come out with possible solutions for the future to counter the cyber security challenges that France was subjected to in the past few weeks.
The constant attacks on the president reflected a weak opposition structure willing to take advantage of vulnerabilities rather than stand strong as a team.
A democracy with nuclear capabilities needs strong leadership capable of seeking opportunities for a state’s welfare and development. But the present opposition leaderships reflect to the international community, a hatred for Macron rather than an interest to bring France back on track.
A democracy must always keep the intensity of polarisation checked. This is especially when the democratic country is a nuclear weapon state. Thus, when protests in democratic countries commence to become a crisis situation resulting in fractured economy and sustained injuries on internal security, its regional balance starts to get compromised.
Leadership formed on the basis of taking advantage of the limitations of existing governance leadership often makes the country look weak both at regional and global forums.
There have been loopholes in French governance, but there have been several mechanisms that have worked for Paris.
In addition, no matter the governance, Paris and, for that matter, Europe needs to come out of their colonial hibernation and start focusing more on manufacturing industries. For France, tourism, a service sector industry, adds charm to its economy while its defence industry, a manufacturing industry, remains one of the top choices for several international defence markets.
Nevertheless, it would be worthwhile to mention that at a time when Britain chose to exit from the European Union, Macron continued France’s journey in the EU. He has constantly been the only leader warning the EU of a possible looming danger and offering the French nuclear umbrella for the EU as the only way to strengthen European deterrence. He also played a crucial role as a mentor to the transitioning government in Syria post President Assad being overthrown.
Thus, Paris needs more comprehensive and robust solutions that are pragmatic and durable. Resignation of Macron will never be a solution at this moment. The message sent to the global order by French opposition parties will bring French global reputation to disdain. Instead, all leaders must unite at this moment to bring France back on track.
Author note: From a Mother
Long hours in the schools have been one of the reasons for protests in France. Children do not need long hours in schools. Children studying in classes up to Standard 6 ideally need only four to five hours of classes. Beyond that, most students tend to lose their focus and strength.
