France General Discussion IV: Yellow Fever

[parochial boy]

I saw the headline "Macron appoints Castex" and for a brief moment thought Macron had actually gone and made a start-up Prime Minister.

I've never heard of the guy, and from a brief search, there is absolutely no reason I ever would have heard of him.

On the other hand, a 2022 with Macron, Philippe, Le Pen, a Hanouna/Raoult/Bigard and at least three "Union de la gauche" candidates is going to be a joy to watch. Because at least two of them are going to wind up humiliated, and it will be so well deserved.

[Blair]

Can someone explain to someone with a limited understanding of French Politics A.) What the thinking is behind this B.) What the backstory is C.) Why he's appointed some random as PM- is this is a common thing?

[Zinneke]

Can someone explain to someone with a limited understanding of French Politics A.) What the thinking is behind this B.) What the backstory is

Nobody knows the true backstory. Philippe's team will likely brief some journos in due course about what went on in the background but the President and PM kept all things very tight sealed during their partnership.

The thinking behind it from Macron's perspective is likely : "you, PM Nobody, run the government as a secretary, without getting involved politically about the direction of this government. I take over all the mediatic functions and campaigning, only taking executive and foreign policy decisions." Macron needs to be more seen as an election comes up. I actually tend to think the more people see Macron the more they dislike him, but that's just my foreign perspective.

Assume that Edouard Philippe, being a) French and b) a politician, has presidential ambitions though, and that may have played a role.

C.) Why he's appointed some random as PM- is this is a common thing?

Philippe's government is one of the longest lasting in Vth Republic history (after an initial resignation of Bayrou's ministers when they started out Macron's term), so it is quite common to at least have a reshuffle and also to get rid of your PM after a bad election day.

[Tirnam]

Assume that Edouard Philippe, being a) French and b) a politician, has presidential ambitions though, and that may have played a role.

I don't understand where this idea of Philippe having presidential ambitions came from. It's pretty clear that he has none, at least for 2022.
Obviously political journalists love to speculate, and apparently Philippe wants to clarify things on this subject: he will work, at Macron's request, on the reorganization of the majority for 2022. He is not going to run against Macron.

[Hnv1]

When did the French Greens turn from a joke party to a serious force?

[Zinneke]

When did the French Greens turn from a joke party to a serious force?

You tell me.

Assume that Edouard Philippe, being a) French and b) a politician, has presidential ambitions though, and that may have played a role.

I don't understand where this idea of Philippe having presidential ambitions came from. It's pretty clear that he has none, at least for 2022.
Obviously political journalists love to speculate, and apparently Philippe wants to clarify things on this subject: he will work, at Macron's request, on the reorganization of the majority for 2022. He is not going to run against Macron.

Precedent I imagine : Rocard, Chaban Delmas, to name two who lost Matignon because they were perceived to be speculating against the sitting President.

[Zinneke]

Benalla trolling hard...



Indeed this buys into all the rumours that Macron has recently been consulting Sarkozy for advice during the crisis and beyond...

[Antonio the Sixth]

Wow. I had literally never heard of the guy. This is the first time in my life I'm genuinely floored by a PM appointment. What a bizarre choice.

I guess there are a few possible ways to rationalize the choice. Appointing a small-town mayor can be FBM's olive branch to "peripheral France" where the Yellow Vest movement began and an effort to mend fences with local officeholders who generally hate his guts. Or appointing someone with a technocratic profile can be a way to show the country that the President is hard at work to tackle the crisis in a way that transcends partisan politics (but then again French people usually hate technocrats more than they hate partisan politicians). Or, as has been suggested, FBM wants to hoard all the media attention and he hated that Philippe was starting to build his own public figure. In which case, that seems like a uniquely boneheaded way to approach political strategy (yes, Mitterrand fired Rocard and Pompidou fired Chaban for the same reason, but they both had an established party to pick potential replacements from).

Anyway, I'm curious to see how this turns out. There's the potential for quite a bit of comedy here.

[CumbrianLefty]

Maybe the most relevant thing is that he used to be a supporter of Sarkozy?

[Zinneke]

Castex's first "surprise visit" media stunt was to a police station, which shows you how sh**t-scared the French political class are of the police unions compared to the hospital workers. Priorities.

[Tirnam]

The new government has been announced, for the major changes:

- Eric Dupont-Moretti, a high profile lawyer, is the new Justice minister
- Roselyne Bachelot, deeply unpopular after her handling of the H1N1 flu of 2009, now praised for that, is the new Culture minister.
- Gérald Darmanin is now the Interior minister.
- Barbara Pompelli is the new minister for the ecological transition

[Zinneke]

Full Cabinet :

Jean-Yves Le Drian : ministre de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères,

Barbara Pompili : ministre de la Transition écologique,

Jean-Michel Blanquer : ministre de l'Education nationale, de la Jeunesse et des Sports,

Bruno Le Maire : ministre de l'Economie, des finances et de la relance,

Florence Parly : ministre des Armées,

Gérald Darmanin : ministre de l'Intérieur,

Elisabeth Borne : ministre du Travail, de l'Emploi et de l'Insertion,

Sébastien Lecornu : ministre des Outre-mer,

Jacqueline Gourault : ministre des Territoires et des relations avec les collectivités territoriales,

Eric Dupond-Moretti : Garde des Sceaux, ministre de la Justice,

Roselyne Bachelot : ministre de la Culture,

Olivier Véran : ministre des Solidarités et de la Santé,

Annick Girardin : ministre de la Mer,

Frédérique Vidal : ministre de l'Enseignement supérieur, de la recherche et de l'innovation,

Julien Denormandie : ministre de l'Agriculture et de l'alimentation,

Amélie de Montchalin, : ministre de la Transformation et de la fonction publique,


Glad Castaner is gone and that there is a "heavyweight" at Culture now.
Dupond-Moretti though...the "peopleisation" of French politics begins...

[Zinneke]

Just a quick background check on Darmanin makes me take back what I said about Castaner. the new minister of interior sounds like a total piece of sh**t

https://twitter.com/GDarmanin/status/257080026325999617

https://twitter.com/ParisPasRose/status/864954201901760515

(Manif pour tous was the demonstration against gay marriage)

Add to that an ongoing sexual misconduct case and we have another Sarkozyste POS.

[CumbrianLefty]

So its a mostly right leaning cabinet?

[Zinneke]

So its a mostly right leaning cabinet?

"Left" representation : Le Drian, Pompili, Parly, Véran, Girardin. Not nothing either. Although most of them are from the Manuel Valls school of Socialist thought you see...

[parochial boy]

Borne as well - once close to Ségolène Royal. That one at least is something of an improvement. I suspect that Yann Barthès is the only person who isn't glad to see the back of Pénicaud.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53319441

President Emmanuel Macron and his new government have defended choosing a man under investigation for alleged rape to lead France's interior ministry.

Gérald Darmanin firmly denies the accusation that he raped Sophie Patterson-Spatz in 2009 when she sought his legal help.

Mr Darmanin says they had consensual sex and has accused her of slander.

But his promotion caused shock and anger from feminist groups and government critics.

This feels like a massive misstep for Macron.

[CumbrianLefty]

You would have thought Macron would at least consider "the optics" (ugh) in such things.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/french-bus-driver-beaten-death-after-asking-passengers-wear-face-n1233603

The wife of a French bus driver who was beaten to death after he asked four passengers to wear face masks aboard his vehicle called Saturday for “exemplary punishment” for his killers.

The assault on Philippe Monguillot has scandalized France. President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday dispatched the interior minister to meet the driver’s widow after his death was announced Friday. He had been hospitalized in critical condition after the July 5 attack.

<snip>

The Bayonne prosecutor said Monguillot was assaulted after he asked four passengers on his No. 810 bus to wear face coverings, which are required aboard French public transport because of the coronavirus pandemic. The driver was insulted, pushed off the bus and violently beaten and kicked in the head, the prosecutor said.

Four people are in custody.

[Lechasseur]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.20minutes.fr/amp/a/2821875

Emmanuel Macron has announced his intention to make masks mandatory in indoor public places starting from August 1st.

[Lechasseur]

https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2020/07/16/en-mayenne-le-gouvernement-veut-rendre-le-masque-obligatoire-sans-attendre-le-1er-aout_6046327_3244.html

France has advanced its plans to make masks in indoor public places. It should now take affect next week.

The Health Secretary also confirmed he didn't have the intention to put the country under a stay at home order again.

[Continential]

I wonder if Le Pen was President, how much of a clown car would it be with Covid?

[darklordoftech]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/25/french-minister-defends-precious-right-to-sunbathe-topless

France’s interior minister has defended the “precious” right to sunbathe topless on beaches, after police asked a group of women to cover up on the southern coast.

French gendarmes patrolling a beach in Mediterranean seaside town Sainte-Marie-la-Mer last week asked a group of topless sunbathers to cover up in response to a complaint from a family, the local gendarmerie said in a statement on Facebook.

It acknowledged their actions had been “clumsy” but said the officers only wanted to calm the situation, insisting there had been no official order to ban topless sunbathing in the town.

But their actions prompted an avalanche of criticism on social media, where users wondered if the practice was now out of bounds.

“Is Sainte-Marie-la-Mer now Saudi Arabia?” wondered one user, while others slammed a creeping “prudishness” in France.

“It was wrong that the women were warned about their clothing,” interior minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter.

“Freedom is something precious. And it is normal that officials can admit their mistakes.”

“You will always see me in uniform,” the spokeswoman of the French gendarmerie Maddy Scheurer wrote on Twitter. “But topless sunbathing is allowed on the beach at Sainte-Marie-la-Mer. It was clumsiness by two gendarmes who had the best intentions.”

Topless sunbathing in France is legally not considered to be sexual exhibitionism although it can be halted by local directives outlawing certain styles of dress.

But far from everyone in France takes their tops off on the beach these days and topless sunbathing has become less popular in recent years.

Surveys show that younger women are increasingly concerned about sexual harassment and body shaming on the beach.

Less than 20% of French women aged under 50 now sunbathe topless, compared with 28% 10 years ago and 43% in 1984, according to a recent survey by pollster Ifop of over 5,000 Europeans including 1,000 French.

This makes the French less willing to sunbathe topless than some other Europeans, with almost half of Spanish women saying they sunbathe topless and 34% of Germans.

Less than 20% of French women aged under 50 now sunbathe topless, compared with 28% 10 years ago and 43% in 1984, according to a recent survey by pollster Ifop of over 5,000 Europeans including 1,000 French.

This makes the French less willing to sunbathe topless than some other Europeans, with almost half of Spanish women saying they sunbathe topless and 34% of Germans.[/quote]

[PSOL]

So what shift has resulted in these changes? Has the dominant societal forces shifted to more prudishness?

[brucejoel99]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/25/french-minister-defends-precious-right-to-sunbathe-topless

[snip]

Why is this even an issue?