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| Marine Le Pen’s Brexit glee goes against France’s belief in humanity Marine Le Pen’s Brexit glee goes against France’s belief in humanity | |
| (4 months later) | |
| “I went to bed, the Brits were in. I woke up, they were out. And I thought, merde!” | “I went to bed, the Brits were in. I woke up, they were out. And I thought, merde!” |
| How many times have I heard this in the past week? The news plunged many French people into a state of stupor and “profound sadness” – as President François Hollande commented the morning after the vote. There had been a death in the European family. | How many times have I heard this in the past week? The news plunged many French people into a state of stupor and “profound sadness” – as President François Hollande commented the morning after the vote. There had been a death in the European family. |
| We didn’t have time to grieve for very long though. Brexit had an instant effect: the genie was out of the bottle. The French extreme-right leader Marine Le Pen held a press conference and chose the union jack to illustrate her Twitter account alongside the word Brexit. I have never seen her look so relaxed and happy. She beamed at the cameras, and lavished praise on the British people for standing up to the “totalitarian EU, that prison of people”. Frexit is next, she roared. With a strong Channel wind in her sails, she has been on a roll ever since. | We didn’t have time to grieve for very long though. Brexit had an instant effect: the genie was out of the bottle. The French extreme-right leader Marine Le Pen held a press conference and chose the union jack to illustrate her Twitter account alongside the word Brexit. I have never seen her look so relaxed and happy. She beamed at the cameras, and lavished praise on the British people for standing up to the “totalitarian EU, that prison of people”. Frexit is next, she roared. With a strong Channel wind in her sails, she has been on a roll ever since. |
| Last Wednesday she announced on French television that she’d call for the EU referendum immediately after being elected president next year. With Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy wanting to run in the 2017 presidential elections, despite polls showing the French don’t want to have anything to do with them ever again, she seems assured to get through to the second round. | Last Wednesday she announced on French television that she’d call for the EU referendum immediately after being elected president next year. With Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy wanting to run in the 2017 presidential elections, despite polls showing the French don’t want to have anything to do with them ever again, she seems assured to get through to the second round. |
| There are facts we can no longer ignore. In the New York Times, Le Pen pointed out that in 2005 both France and the Netherlands had rejected the European constitution by referendum, and yet the European commission had chosen to ignore the people’s will with the help or complicity of the French government – at its own peril, she added. The people’s wrath has been mounting since then, and now “the people’s spring has begun”. | There are facts we can no longer ignore. In the New York Times, Le Pen pointed out that in 2005 both France and the Netherlands had rejected the European constitution by referendum, and yet the European commission had chosen to ignore the people’s will with the help or complicity of the French government – at its own peril, she added. The people’s wrath has been mounting since then, and now “the people’s spring has begun”. |
| It is easy to dismiss her, but not so to be deaf to her arguments, some of them perfectly valid, and which seem to resonate loudly in many European ears. It is no surprise that her party has been on a steep rise for the last 10 years, gaining 28% of votes in the first round of the last local elections. And if, each time, France relies on a general republican elan to stop her, it doesn’t resolve the core problem. As in Britain, both left and right parties have suffered Jacquerie-style revolts from the electorate. Brexit shows that no country is immune from this ever growing force, even a country like Britain, which we thought was devoid of political and ideological passion. | It is easy to dismiss her, but not so to be deaf to her arguments, some of them perfectly valid, and which seem to resonate loudly in many European ears. It is no surprise that her party has been on a steep rise for the last 10 years, gaining 28% of votes in the first round of the last local elections. And if, each time, France relies on a general republican elan to stop her, it doesn’t resolve the core problem. As in Britain, both left and right parties have suffered Jacquerie-style revolts from the electorate. Brexit shows that no country is immune from this ever growing force, even a country like Britain, which we thought was devoid of political and ideological passion. |
| There are others in France who also rejoice at a Brexit but for fundamentally opposite reasons. “This could be a new beginning for Europe,” wrote columnist Jacques Julliard. The founding fathers of the union always envisaged an EU based on the principles of the welfare state, social justice and ever closer union. Former European commission president Jacques Delors thought that a common currency would naturally and organically foster a political union and fiscal harmonisation, but this was not to be. | There are others in France who also rejoice at a Brexit but for fundamentally opposite reasons. “This could be a new beginning for Europe,” wrote columnist Jacques Julliard. The founding fathers of the union always envisaged an EU based on the principles of the welfare state, social justice and ever closer union. Former European commission president Jacques Delors thought that a common currency would naturally and organically foster a political union and fiscal harmonisation, but this was not to be. |
| Many in France point the finger at Britain, which, they argue, has hindered the natural European process for four decades by constantly opting out of measures it didn’t like, while pushing for neoliberal and austerity policies, thus creating a monster. | Many in France point the finger at Britain, which, they argue, has hindered the natural European process for four decades by constantly opting out of measures it didn’t like, while pushing for neoliberal and austerity policies, thus creating a monster. |
| My local bookshop in Paris tells me that Victor Hugo’s political speeches, notably those on Europe, have been selling very well since the UK referendum result. A coincidence, perhaps, but let’s have a look. In 1869, with the authoritarian Napoleon III still in power, the exiled Hugo was more than ever clinging on to his European ideals. He addressed the peace congress in Lausanne with these words: “Fellow citizens of the United States of Europe, allow me to give you this name. You exist, therefore it exists. You confirm it by the union from which unity is taking shape. You are the beginning of a great future.” | My local bookshop in Paris tells me that Victor Hugo’s political speeches, notably those on Europe, have been selling very well since the UK referendum result. A coincidence, perhaps, but let’s have a look. In 1869, with the authoritarian Napoleon III still in power, the exiled Hugo was more than ever clinging on to his European ideals. He addressed the peace congress in Lausanne with these words: “Fellow citizens of the United States of Europe, allow me to give you this name. You exist, therefore it exists. You confirm it by the union from which unity is taking shape. You are the beginning of a great future.” |
| Today, most of us, like Hugo, are heirs to the idea of nation states, trying to reconcile our love for our countries with a desire to be part of a bigger ensemble – a strong, generous and rich political and economic European Union. But it is difficult. We are torn, unsure. After all, what is it to be European? | Today, most of us, like Hugo, are heirs to the idea of nation states, trying to reconcile our love for our countries with a desire to be part of a bigger ensemble – a strong, generous and rich political and economic European Union. But it is difficult. We are torn, unsure. After all, what is it to be European? |
| For Hugo, the answer is simple. To be and feel European is not to renounce one’s identity; it is, on the contrary, to add an extra layer to it and make it richer. “I have written with a profound love for my own country, but without being engrossed by France more than by any other nation. As I advance in life, I grow more simple, and I become more and more patriotic for humanity.” | For Hugo, the answer is simple. To be and feel European is not to renounce one’s identity; it is, on the contrary, to add an extra layer to it and make it richer. “I have written with a profound love for my own country, but without being engrossed by France more than by any other nation. As I advance in life, I grow more simple, and I become more and more patriotic for humanity.” |
| Europe, a patriotism for humanity – what a beautiful and appropriate definition in our troubled times. | Europe, a patriotism for humanity – what a beautiful and appropriate definition in our troubled times. |
| Whichever direction Britain finally chooses to take, leaving the EU, voting again or ignoring the referendum’s results, there is still hope that Hugo’s dream might one day be achieved – if not by our generation, then by the next one, or the one after. | Whichever direction Britain finally chooses to take, leaving the EU, voting again or ignoring the referendum’s results, there is still hope that Hugo’s dream might one day be achieved – if not by our generation, then by the next one, or the one after. |