France suffers from democratic deficit

Since the referendum in May 2005 when France answered a strong NO to the Constitutional Treaty, it keeps totally silent on European affairs, be it inside or outside.  

In spring 2006, the government tried, without any preliminary consultation, to impose a reform on a sensitive issue by force. Once again, French citizens have got mobilized to say NO.

Today, the Republican monarchy has lost all its authority and the French society does not meet the need for reforms. The left and the right have indeed shown complacency towards conservative positions. They have claimed to “protect” French citizens and their “social acquis” instead of helping them becoming aware of realities. Thus the French nation has been looking for scapegoats: financial globalisation, the European “constraint”. The lack of education and of democratic governance brings a political crisis.  

Governments have however managed to launch a real reform of pension systems and to open up public companies in grid industries (the most significant one being the opening up of EDF capital). But the labour market reform is postponed.  

However, the awareness of this challenge grows on many sides, e.g. reformist trade unionists, liberal Socialists and right-wing politicians. Flexibility could be accepted provided that lifelong job changes are secured. But such a perspective comes up against major barriers: the refusal of mobility in the public sector, the reluctance to sharing responsibilities within civil society and business. We need a new valuation of learning and working. 

This also means reform of State management. Subsidizing jobs, spending for “social treatment of unemployment” is an overdue facility. The Pébereau Mission, to which I contributed, has shown more generally the easy aspect of public expenditure and has recommended a nominal stability of this latter for five years in order to curb the rise in public debt. This requires reducing the levels of administration and creating a culture of results and assessment in public administrations and the public sector.

The most difficult part will be the reform of “Education nationale”. Deeply elitist, this latter contributes to the failure of 25% of young people; cut from economic life, it leads to a fear of the company; providing no orientation, it leaves young people by themselves when they enter the labour market. The government has approved the report of the Pébereau Mission but has postponed its implementation.  

So French society is suffering; it is anxious and racked by tensions and contradictions. There is a need to mobilize reformative spirits beyond political splits. Who will have the courage to do so at the presidential elections of 2007?  

The European construction is a driving force that urges France to reform itself. For the moment, most of the leaders, from Mr Védrine to Mr Chirac, have buried the Constitution and are highlighting the Nation-State. They say they want the Union to go forward on concrete projects, for energy and industrial development for example. Unfortunately, they contradict themselves by calling, not convincingly, for national economic patriotism. As for the banner of social Europe, France has no longer credibility in that field, due to domestic social conservatism and its opposition to the free movement of persons beyond frontiers. The idea of a conciliation of market law with social law should be accepted. That is what the EP achieved for the Services Directive. But the French left voted against it in Strasbourg.

Some associations and politicians are trying to put an end to France’s silence and to bring it back to Europe. We suggest that parts I and II of the draft Treaty be taken up by States, because they improve the Union’s decision-making process and establish fundamental rights. For the rest, the Union will have to operate for a while under the current treaties.  

The strengthening of the Economic Union is a must but Nation States oppose to it. The relaunch of the Lisbon strategy for growth through intergovernmental coordination may not deliver. We must count much more or dialogue and cooperation involving the European peoples themselves. The awareness of the challenges has grown. The single market cannot be achieved without common policies for innovation, networks, the financial system, the European labour market... This is a democratic challenge which comes up against nationalisms on all sides, either French, or British, or Polish. 

Philippe Herzog