Margaret Thatcher wins French election
Posted by Charles II on May 6, 2007
Oh, wait. It was Nicolas Sarkozy.
New president seen as genial, conciliatory. As France’s interior minister and “top cop” during the 2005 riots, Mr Sarkozy was seen by young people on the estates as enemy number one. They were offended by his lack of sensitivity over the incident which sparked the riots: the death of two teenagers electrocuted in a power substation while evading police.
Workers volunteer for paycuts, longer work weeks. So what has Nicolas Sarkozy, who looks to be the likely victor, promised to do? He says France is craving a sense of direction and leadership amid recent fears of decline. He has promised a “reformist crash programme” as part of which he hopes to get agreement from the unions before the autumn on a unified, more flexible work contract, on minimum service standards during strikes in public services, and renegotiation of workers’ rights between unions and employers.He would also in effect do away with the 35-hour working week by imposing a 25% premium on overtime hours worked, paid for by scrapping any tax and national insurance on them.The unified, more flexible work contract sounds harmless enough but it goes to the heart of the problems in the French labour market. French workers are either “insiders” on permanent contracts and in effect have jobs for life with short working hours, or they are “outsiders”, either jobless or working on precarious short-term contracts.
Fireworks to celebrate Sarkozy victory.
Nicolas Sarkozy was last night handed a mandate to change France after a massive turnout in one of the most divisive presidential election campaigns in the country’s history….But as he talked, there were reports of car-burnings in the suburbs and trouble flaring in Lyon, with police firing flashballs after skirmishes between leftwing activists and Sarkozy supporters.
The one person who is celebrating Nicolas Sarkozy’s election the loudest may well be Osama bin Laden. The extremist movement bin Laden heads thrives on internal Western conflict and decline. Nicolas Sarkozy is going to “rationalize” the French economy, put a firm boot on the many young and mostly Muslim immigrants, and restore a sense of French nationalistic pride.
One might even call it his crusade.
The saddest feature is watching the liberal European press, papers like The Guardian, say that this was “necessary.” In the US, we said that about PATCO, we said it about NAFTA, we said it again and again and again as the right tore down the basic protections enjoyed by working people… and now we don’t have any at all.
7 Responses to “Margaret Thatcher wins French election”
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Mercury Rising 鳯女 
whig said
Amazing what you can do when you control the voting machines.
Charles said
Veeery interesting, whig.
I don’t have any idea whether there’s a chance the election could have been tampered with, but as I keep on pointing out, governing is not just about holding office. It is about a vague, fuzzy thing called “legitimacy”: the sense of the public that you deserved to win the election.
whig said
I think that there’s no question but that Sarkozy will be the president of France now, however clouded his election. Much as George Bush became president of the United States, and untrustworthy voting machines continue to be a problem here (though gradually being addressed in some places, like California).
I will never believe that Sarkozy was honestly elected, however.
Phoenix Woman said
There’s been intense rioting in France, which the US press is implying is essentially Just Those Silly Leftists Having A Temper Tantrum After They Were Beat Fair And Square.
I will point out that the things they’re saying about Sarkozy are the same things they were saying about Jacques Chirac six years earlier: Will cuddle up to Bush, will destroy workers’ rights, will clamp down on The Evil Wogs, etc. None of that worked out too well for Chirac.
Charles said
There are major differences between Chirac and Sarkozy, PW. Chirac was part of the French establishment, which tended to protect him when things didn’t go according to plan. I don’t see Sarkozy as having a natural constituency capable of protecting him. He seems like a not-very-bright strongman whose popularity is strongest among the Le Pen types whose jobs will be the first to be “rationalized.”
MEC said
“Amazing what you can do when you control the voting machines.”
And the French did it better than the Busheviks did; at least they made it appear that Sarkozy got a clear majority.
whig said
The Busheviks did manage that in 2004, by monkeying Ohio at least. Somehow in 2006 the voting machines were insufficient. It was a miracle for us.