The Weekly Dispatch - 25 September 2022
The Weekly Dispatch - 25 September 2022
Macron gives the speech of his career, the #AffaireQuatennens explodes, discussions on pension reforms continue, and EELV's Bayou is hit with accusations of violence against women.
The Weekly Dispatch is your weekly summary of the major events taking place in French and European politics, published on Sundays in order to give you the perfect way to catch up with current affairs.
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Macron Gives the Speech of his Career
In a speech that surprised everyone with its intensity and passion, French President Emmanuel Macron gave what may be the speech of his career at the United Nations General Assembly this week, making a geopolitical statement that strengthened calls for solidarity, demanded support for Ukraine, targeted the fence sitters who refuse to take a side, and intensifying the great power conflict with Russia and China.
If you haven’t read it yet, check out the breakdown I wrote earlier this week:
The Quatennens Affair Explodes
Having publicly admitted to slapping the wife he is divorcing, Adrien Quatennens, one of Jean-Luc Mélenchon expected successors, stepped down from his position as coordinator for the party and tried to put some distance between himself and the party in order to save it some embarassment.
Unfortunately, things very quickly went from bad to worse as his party colleagues got involved, and thanks to a succession of terrible tweets, press conferences, and public behaviorus, the party’s reputation is starting to look shaky.
To begin with, party leader and former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon released a tweet condeming everyone while praising Quatennens’ “Dignity and courage”, triggering a stream of outrage from anyone remotely serious about combating domestic abuse and violence against women.
“Police malice, media voyeurism, social networks invited themselves into the conflictual divorce of Adrien and Céline Quatennens. Adrien has decided to take it all on himself. I salute his dignity and his courage. I tell him my confidence and my affection.”
President of the Renaissance group in the Assemblée Nationale, Aurore Bergé, was one of many people who were outraged by the statement:
“There is violence, which is unacceptable and which nothing justifies or excuses. Worse, there is the variable geometry indignation. One condemns one's political opponents without proof and one prefers to forgive, excuse, protect one's own. And in the end, it is the women who toast.”
When quizzed by Quotidien Journalist Paul Gasnier on whether he regretted his tweet , we saw a flash of traditiona Jean-Luc Mélenchon aggression when he touched the face of the journalist, telling him that he “was the one who would regret what he was doing”.
This all of this was followed by a fascinating press conference by the LFI/NUPES coalition, where after several statements that avoided the situation entirely, the party cut the livestream of the conference the moment that the floor was opened to journalists.
Unfortunately for them, shows like Quotidien were present, very keen to get answers, and showed us the scenes unfolding as several of the members who were most vocal about violence against women attempted to hide between themselves to avoid speaking, before the president of the LFI parliamentary group, Mathilde Panot, blew off the question with a non answer.
And things seem to keep spiralling out of control. Manuel Bompard, former MEP and current deputy for the Bouches-du-Rhône's 4th constituency (Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s old seat), adding more fuel to the fire by attempting to invent a classification system for different forms of domestic abuse while sitting live on C News.
“I try to make sense of things, a slap is never acceptable, but it is not equal to a man who beats his wife every day. Et une gifle n’est pas égale à un homme qui est accusé de viol après avoir drogué les personnes qui l’accusent"
Honestly, at this stage, any hopes that the party would be able to overcome this crisis in a simple way seem to be way off the mark, and it’s looking like the situation may stick to the party for a while.
Pension Reform Continues
The fight for pension reform continues, and this week saw the official opinion of the Comité de Suivi des Retraites (CSR, or Pension Monitoring Committee en bon anglais) being released, outlining a “risk” of “significant” deficits in the future.
The key points of the opinion were as follows:
The comittee argued that an increase in employee and employer contributions "poses the problem of consistency with the policy of reductions in contributions which has prevailed so far…In this case, we can consider strengthening other types of levies, but taking care not to deviate the system too much from its primary logic, that of a contributory system”
Regarding an ‘under-endexation of pensions’, the committee said that "it remains an adjustment option, if it is accompanied by the protective measures required for low pensions". However, on this point the committee called for longer-term reflection on the indexation of pensions, in order to not damage the living standards of seniors in French society
On the increase in the average age of liquidation of pensions, the committee said that, “in this case, we must assume the fact that this could lead to a further decline in the average duration of retirement, given the new trajectory of life expectancy”
On raising the legal age of retirement and increasing the contribution period, the committee said the following: “Faster financial efficiency for the first, but which is attenuated in the long term, because it is offset by an additional pension which increases gradually the average pension of the stock".
Regarding a change in the ability to claim the full pension rate, “the committee believes that the financial effects are ‘slower’, and that it also has the disadvantage of accentuating the drop in the average pension, unless individuals compensate via more recourse to premiums". It could nevertheless be justified by "presenting it as the price to pay" in order not to increase contributions nor "reduce the standard of living"
To conclude, the Committee remains very cautious: “All in all, if the committee, as in 2017, recommends finding a response to the balancing problems revealed by the COR projections, it is not up to it to select a single way to respond to them”
In it’s annual report, the Conseil d'orientation des retraites (COR, or Pension Orientation Council) reported that the pension system generated a surpluss of €900 million last year, with a surpluss of €3.2 billion expected in 2022.
However, the COR expects the overall balance of pension plans to deteriorate “significantly from 2023”, with a return to equilibrium expected “around mid-2030” in the best case scenario.
Edouard Philippe, the former Prime Minister and leader of Horizons, for his part, called last night for the government to “decide quickly” on the method for reforming pensions.
“François (Bayrou) said very clearly, it is perfectly respectable, and in addition his position is based on an often fair analysis. Me, I said with the same concern as François to arrive at the reform, and the same reading of the difficulties that he pointed out, that whatever happens, we would firmly support the government . But let's decide quickly, ”
If you want an in-depth look at the history and issues surrounding this reform, click on the below link to read this week’s Brief, available in full to paid subscribers:
EELV Bayou Embroiled in Violent Accusations
As politico put it this week, “The Green’s House is burning down while we look elsewhere”.
This week saw more tensions errupt within the Europe Ecologie Les Verts house, with national secretary Julien Bayou stepping back from the EELV parliamentary group after not only an internal complaint, but after his colleague Sandrine Rousseau unveiled accusations of violence against women live on television.
Speaking live on C à vous, Rousseau publicly stated that she had receive a woman at her home who accused Bayou of “behavior likely to break the moral health of women”.
"I received at my house very for a long time an ex-companion of Julien Bayou, I think that behaviors are likely to break the moral health of women…They are obviously several, I only heard one testimony. A journalistic investigation seems to be in progress"
Currently, EELV are planning to launch an internal party commission “as soon as possible on what in no way constitutes sexist or sexual violence or inappropriate behavior towards anyone”, according to Bayou, who also launched a very interesting defence:
“It is unfortunately a story that ends in suffering, and a rupture that is accompanied by thinly veiled threats against me and a form of instrumentalization that I can only deplore…[there is] a resentment that she does not hide since she clearly wrote to me, three days after having seized the internal commission of EELV: 'Worry. I will come back and in force. (...) The fall is going to be painful.’”
Regardless of what has happened or what is being said, we’ll have to wait and see how the process develops and where the complaint goes.
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