The presidential electoral campaign in France is entering a new phase, not necessarily more constructive than previous phases. After months of entering into personal squabbles, soundbites, hunting for patronage and betrayals, candidates gradually publish programs, ‘en bloc’ or bit by bit, in book form, factsheets, collections of speeches and texts made public on websites. They sound as if some of them understand the material presented as compulsory figures, irrelevant documents, in fact, to be forgotten as soon as they are published.
They must not be allowed to rule out debates, or return to their empty phrases and their convenient ad hoc alliances. On the contrary, now is the time to hold them to this and ask them at least the following ten groups of questions:
- Tell us your vision of the world. Would you think it is dominated by the risk of war? Economic crises? Waves of terrorist attacks? Waves of immigrants? Climate events and hazards?
- What are your thoughts on the current situation in France? Do you think the country is in decline? What are the country’s
strengths?
- What do you want France to look like in 10 years? In 20 years? Give clear figures.
- Will you hold or refuse a referendum on the country’s membership in the Eurozone? What about the referendum on France’s membership of the European Union?
- For you, what is French Identity? What would you like to see it become?
- Would you like to govern by decree or by taking more time to debate in our nation’s Parliament?
- What are the institutional reforms you are prepared to propose? The reduction of the number of elected officials? Reduction of the number of mandates? Reduction of the number of local authorities?
- Which are your suggestions in the key areas of education, health, industry, police, secularism, defense, justice, public finances, pensions, agriculture, labor law, the power of unions and employment?
- What are you proposing for vital issues of equal importance that are all too often overlooked: culture, Overseas France, Francophonie, rurban areas, disabilities?
- Do you have a full costing of your program costs? What tax revenues balance the new expenditure you are proposing? Are you ready to accept the worsening of the deficits in the longer term and that of the public debt, or do you think it is important to reduce them?
If these questions are not asked, and in a particularly insistent manner, they will quickly cut their programs in favor of slogans, carefully chosen to target a clientele defined by the marketing of their media advisory team. So the presidential election, once again, will depend on empty phrases, or will be based on appearances: if there are no terrorist attacks or tragic events before April 2017, the French will elect a new man or a woman just to get rid of a hated political class and to prove to themselves that everything can change. If, however, there is a major terrorist attack or a historical accident, they will elect someone who had already been President or Prime Minister, to prove to themselves that everything can continue as before. Candidates will pretend to have programs, and later the winner will pretend to be a statesman.
As for the country itself, it will not pretend to be very upset.