- The coronavirus epidemic has also shaken up French political life.
- In a context of health and economic crisis, national unity and the return of the old world were mentioned ... before being quickly swept away.
- The executive relied on science to govern, while the Liberal right approved debt.
It is the beginning of deconfinement. For more than two months, the coronavirus epidemic has changed our society. Political life is no exception to the rule. But has it really changed? National unity, scientific expertise, return from the old world ... 20 Minutes draws up a first assessment after more than eight weeks of confinement.
National unity quickly lived
At the start of the crisis, on March 16, Emmanuel Macron called for a block against the coronavirus, inviting "all the political actors [...] to join this national unity". During his address on April 11, the Head of State reiterated, with a call to "build another project in harmony [...] with all the components of our nation". But a first controversy over the maintenance of the first round of municipal shows that the national union is fragile. It even shatters in the days that follow, despite the government's promises of "transparency". “National unity cannot be achieved on the back of the French. This is why we continue to denounce the lies of the government ”, summarizes the deputy RN of the North Sébastien Chenu.
The opposition criticizes the executive for both its management of the health crisis and its mistakes on masks, tests, or even on economic measures. The text on "state of health emergency" is criticized by some opponents. The senatorial right has also announced that it will seize the Constitutional Council on the law of extension of this state of emergency and provides for a commission of inquiry on the health crisis in June.
Medicine has "taken power" ... but not to the end
Emmanuel Macron immediately preached "confidence in science". As of March 11, a scientific council made up of epidemic specialists was thus set up. Then a second committee of researchers was created on March 24, this time to focus on treatments and screening.
“We are always listening to what scientists tell us. In the end, these are decisions that are not very political, it does not come under a doctrine or an ideology ”, explained about the wearing of the mask the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, on April 30 on LCI. Maintaining municipal elections, closing schools, confinement ... The executive supported all its decisions on medical expertise. Leaves to be accused of discarding scientists, when Edouard Philippe for example attributed the error on the masks to the lack of medical consensus on the issue.
But Emmanuel Macron finally freed himself from doctors by announcing deconfinement from May 11 with the reopening of schools, while the scientific council recommended to keep all schools closed until September. "When there is uncertainty, that sometimes contradictory information reaches you, the politician must regain control," justifies Bruno Bonnell, LREM deputy for the Rhône.
Debt explodes and everyone is happy with it
To support the economy, which has slowed considerably, the government has drawn aid for businesses and a partial unemployment plan. The 2020 budget has been corrected, up 110 billion euros on the expenditure side, including 24 to finance short-time working and 20 to recapitalize strategic businesses in difficulty. Enough to jump the debt, which should increase to 115% of GDP this year (+ 16 points), but not the politicians. Even the right, traditionally attached to reducing public spending, like other elected officials, approved this increase in debt. A change in economic doctrine facilitated by the abandonment of the rules of budgetary discipline by the European Commission
The most severe crisis of confidence in European countries
The executive multiplies the media interventions in an attempt to eradicate the distrust of a part of the French. But if the popularity of Emmanuel Macron and Edouard Philippe is generally increasing, confidence in the government to deal with the epidemic, for its part, has dropped in most polls. It is thus only 39%, according to an Ifop poll published Sunday, May 3, down 16 points compared to mid-March.
This distrust is based on a “feeling of deception” recalled Frédéric Dabi, deputy director general of Ifop, evoking the government's hesitations on masks or screenings. France is moreover the most affected European country. According to an Ipsos / Sopra Steria survey for Cevipof published on May 4, 62% of respondents in France say theythus "dissatisfied" with government action against 26% in Germany, 39% in the United Kingdom, and 45% in Italy.
The old world is trying to come back
What if, at the end of the crisis, "the old world" was back? Several political figures remember the good memories of the French (or at least the media) in recent weeks. Manuel Valls, exiled in Barcelona, fed the idea of a return at the beginning of March by indicating to the World : "I consider that at 57 years old I am not completely finished". His ex-rival Arnaud Montebourg has made several trips to the media. The Minister of Productive Recovery of François Hollande, rather discreet since his reconversion in the private sector, seized the opportunity to defend his project of "demondialization" and "economic patriotism".
Roselyne Bachelot took revenge. Accused of having over-reacted to the H1N1 flu by ordering more than 90 million vaccines, the former Minister of Health defended the precautionary principle. "I was mocked but I am convinced, and the evidence proves it, that the theory of preparation, maximum preparation, is the right one," she said in particular to Le Figaro . Another ex-Minister of Health, Philippe Douste-Blazy, has also made his comeback on TV sets. He notably defends chloroquine treatment for patients with Covid-19, and has launched a petition, collecting more than 500,000 signatures.
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- Emmanuel Macron
- Covid 19
- Confinement
- Deconfinement
- Coronavirus