Prominent French political journalist and columnist Alain Duhamel has written around 20 books, including his two most recent, Emmanuel le Hardi ("Emmanuel the Bold," 2021) and Le Prince balafré. Emmanuel Macron et les Gaulois (très) réfractaires ("The Scarred Prince: Emmanuel Macron and the (Very) Rebellious Gauls," 2023), both focused on the current president. He also published his memoirs in Journal d'un observateur ("Diary of an Observer," 2018).
On the Richter scale of political crises in recent decades, where would you place the one France is facing before the vote of confidence in the Assemblée Nationale on Monday, September 8, which is expected to bring down the government of François Bayrou?
It reminds me a lot of 1958, but worse. Like in 1958, government instability has become almost farcical. Like in 1958, the question is whether the political system itself will survive. But unlike 1958, France is now dealing with a deep economic and budgetary crisis. And above all, in 1958, there was an alternative: General [Charles] de Gaulle. People either liked or hated him, but at least he had a vision.
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