World News: Macron Tackles French National Security

Details

Category: World News - Europe

Published on Tuesday, 11 May 2021 13:20

Written by Olivier Longhi

By seizing on the security issue, French President Macron intends to reassure his citizens about his ability to confront the realities it imposes without blur. But wouldn't the operation be as much about electoralism as it is about opportunity?

Like many of his predecessors, Emmanuel Macron seized on the security issue just months before the presidential election. Thus, with a new anti-terrorist bill soon presented to the National Assembly, the President of the Republic intends to silence the criticisms that rise, especially in the right-wing opposition, deeming the legal and judicial arsenal in force too lax in view of the importance of the subject.

Beltway Insider: Biden, US Reopens, Schools, COVID/Vaccine Totals, FB/Trump, Navalny, Afghan Bombing, Chauvin

However, the question that emerges in the face of this auction, easily labelled as easy, and which ultimately only adds to the existing system, is whether it leads to convincing results.

It will be up to everyone to judge this, but it is certain that in this practice inaugurated by Jacques Chirac in 2002 there is a most unpleasant form of cynicism and expressed by the idea that the security of the community seems to have of interest only in the run-up to the presidential election.

Concerns and Crisis

Is it to say that the security theme would have its own timetable to be mentioned only in the pre-election period, thus reinforcing its purely electoral character? It is not forbidden to think so as the theme is absent from the concerns as the flagship electoral event of the Fifth Republic has passed, is moving away.

World News: Former Israeli Mayor David Rubin Sheds Light on Israeli Politics (Q&A)

It is also true, however, that the President, who, in good war, will defend himself stead intended electoralism in the light of the issue, has sought to speed up time. After the pandemic, initiated mass vaccination and presented the plan of deconfinement, sector by sector, the priority of the executive is now to respond to the emergency, at least considered as such, of security.

To reassure the French, and potentially tourists to come in a summer considered crucial that all hope post-Covid seems to be essential for those who wish to extend their lease at the Elysée.

It is therefore not impossible in the coming months to witness an avalanche of security laws whose effectiveness can only be judged on the test of the facts. This is one of the drawbacks of this theme and the laws that accompany it: their effects are only visible in the event of a major crisis.

World News: Macrocosm and Politics Through the Void

Maneuvers and Synthesis

The reinforcement of the police presence recently wanted by the President of the Republic is ultimately only one of the few, if not the only concrete character, of this type of maneuver.

So, what adjective could describe the president's sudden interest in this issue, which is certainly obsessed with the health crisis and economic imperatives. Opportunism is obvious. Exploiting the fears, real or supposed, of the French in terms of the security situation is nothing new.

State Department Releases COVID Report

And the President of the Republic did not break the rule by repeating this theme. But where the problem lies is that the one who wanted to embody a new way of governing, beyond the parties and their ideological bases supposed to be exceeded to result in a global synthesis imbued with social democracy 2.0, or even 3.0, falls heavily, almost crudely, in the hidden annals of past decades.

The new world finally resembles and still looks a little old...

Bio: Olivier Longhi an opinion columnist for Haute-Lifestyle.com, has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist, recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, a press and publishing consultant, and a communications consultant.