Accents of Europe

Abstention: an issue for European democracies

Audio 7:30 p.m.

Posters of the two candidates in front of a polling station in Bussy Saint Georges, April 24, 2022. © RFI

By: Frederique Lebel

3 mins

A new president for France.

Emmanuel Macron re-elected with 58.54% of the votes cast against 41.4 for the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen….

Figures behind which hides a record figure, that of abstention: 28.2%.

This is almost 4 points more than in 2017 in the second round... and the highest level since 1969!

A French evil widely shared by our European neighbors, first and foremost the countries of Central Europe, Léa-Lisa Westerhoff. 

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The question of ecology 

, absent from the debates for the first round of the presidential election in France, came back in force during the last days of the campaign.  

The promises are there: more use of gas, oil and coal in an undetermined future and a Prime Minister in charge of the energy transition. 

On the balance sheet side, France is struggling.

With transport which still represents 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. 

For goods, trucks are used nine times out of ten in France.

France invests in rail freight, but twice less than its German or Austrian neighbours. 

Sign that we are moving in the right direction, in October 2021, a historic freight train was rehabilitated after two years of shutdown.

It is

And for their freight transport, the Swiss are aiming for an underground train that looks like science fiction

.

Imagine robots loaded with goods, rolling H24 under the surface of the ground in long tunnels of several hundred kilometers between the largest cities of the country.

Cargo-sous-terrain, that's its name, should be fully operational in 2045 in Switzerland.

With a first section inaugurated in 2031. The authorities have given the green light to this mega-project which promises to revolutionize the transport sector by reducing the truck fleet.

For the transport of passengers, the train is also acclaimed as a

.

Between 20 times and 300 times less CO2 emitter than the plane, depending on the calculation methods.

Especially for medium distances after years of closures of emblematic lines, the night train is therefore making a comeback between major European cities... Germany is at the heart of this revival of the night train... 

The Italian train of the future at 1200 km/h

And we project ourselves again into the train of the future... this one could see the light of day in the rich region of Veneto, in the north-east of Italy.

The hyperloop, a supersonic train that could travel at 1,200 kilometers per hour, could quite simply revolutionize the transport of the future for passengers and freight.

In Rome, the explanations of

Stroll by train

And if the train is a dream, it is not only because it constitutes a solution for the future.... With its 17,000 kilometers of railway lines, from Veneto to Calabria, from Tuscany to Sicily, the Italian train also has great enchanting potential.... 

Lucie Tournebize

, a travel blogger who has been living on the peninsula for several years, has just published

, a book that offers 18 routes off the beaten track, an invitation to travel and discover the rail network of the boot.

A wealth still too little known, including by the Italians themselves... as she confided to Olivier Bonnel.  

(Rebroadcast April 25, 2022)

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• Presidential France 2022

• French politics

• France

• Environment

• Transportation

• Swiss

• Germany

• Italy

• Travel

• Books

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