Gavin Mortimer

The French found out on Thursday evening that, under their new prime minister, nothing will change in the way their country is run. Gabriel Attal, the Boy Wonder who at 34 is the youngest premier of the Fifth Republic, unveiled his new cabinet – and there was a distinct lack of freshness. The controversial Gerald Darmanin remains as interior minister, despite the fact he has presided over unprecedented rises in crime and illegal immigration. Meanwhile, there is no change at the ministry of justice or the ministry of the economy.  The biggest talking points concern the new minister of culture, Rachida Dati, who served as minister of justice in Nicolas Sarkozy’s centre-right government between 2007 and 2009.

The French media has been busy marking the third anniversary of Britain’s official departure from the EU by gleefully reporting the sorry state of perfidious Albion. ‘The shipwreck of Brexit’ was the headline in Le Figaro, while France’s business paper, Les Echos, declared that the majority of Britons believe leaving the EU has been a ‘failure’. A radio station broadcast a segment on ‘Bregret’, hearing from disenchanted Britons about how wretched life was without Brussels. ‘With Brexit, the country was supposed to slow down immigration, which is now at record levels,’ the broadcaster stated. ‘Public health services are short of money and manpower, despite being promised unprecedented resources.

Emmanuel Macron has begun the new year by replacing one Socialist prime minister with another. Out goes Elisabeth Borne and in comes Gabriel Attal, who at 34 is almost half as young as his 62-year-old predecessor. Macron hopes that Attal will provide his ailing presidency with some youthful vigour after the disastrous 20 months of Borne’s premiership. The arch technocrat wasn’t Macron’s first pick for the choice of PM in May 2022, but the left-wing members of his party made it known that his first choice, Catherine Vautrin, was unacceptable on account of her conservatism. So Borne got the job, but proved inadequate and uninspiring.   As Le Figaro put it, her government was ‘chaotic, abrasive and sometimes explosive’, and she herself earned the nickname ‘Madame 49.3’.

A cultural war has erupted in France over the iconic figure of Gérard Depardieu. The 75-year-old actor is considered one of the greats of the French cinema but he stands accused of multiple allegations of sexual violence and harassment. An investigation is currently ongoing into claims he raped a young actress several years ago. The woman in question appeared in a documentary broadcast recently called The Fall of an Ogre, alongside another actress who alleges she was also a victim of Depardieu. The film broadcast footage of Depardieu making suggestive remarks to women in 2018.  Depardieu denies all the allegations, stating in October last year that he has never ‘abused a woman’. The case has now become a political issue.

Where did it all go wrong for Emmanuel Macron? In his New Year’s Eve address of 2022, France's president called on his people to demonstrate ‘unity, boldness and collective ambition’ in the year ahead. There would be challenges, he acknowledged, referencing the impending pension reform, but the president expressed his optimism that together they could ‘strengthen our independence, our greatness of spirit’ and build a ‘stronger, fairer France’.  We can all dream. Macron’s 2023 has been a nightmare, his ‘annus horribilis’, as France has staggered from one disaster to another. Riots, strikes, Islamist attacks, far-right demos, rocketing crime, soaring drug cartel murders, out of control immigration and crises in education, health, housing and public transport.

One hopes that the arrest of seven suspected members of Hamas last Thursday by European police has embarrassed numerous politicians in the West. Those, like Daniele Obono, of the La France Insoumise (LFI) party, who described the terror group as a ‘resistance movement’ not long after they’d slaughtered 1,200 Israeli men, women and children back in October. According to reports, the seven terrorists were arrested in Germany, Holland and Denmark as they prepared to launch attacks against several Jewish sites in Europe.   One of the most disturbing elements of the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel in a European context was the reaction of many on the political and cultural left.

It is a peculiarity of the age in France that the subject that most divides the political class is the one that most unites the people they govern. Immigration is the issue that needs to be urgently addressed, according to voters, a message they have been telling their politicians for years. In January 2013, a poll found that 70 per cent of the electorate believed there were too many foreigners in the country; that figure has remained constant over the years, rising slightly in 2023 after the riots, atrocities and Islamist attacks that have scarred the Republic this year.   A poll last week disclosed that 80 per cent of the public believe France should no longer accept any migrants. Racist? A few might be.

Rishi Sunak will never stop the boats, just as Giorgia Meloni won’t nor Emmanuel Macron, not that the president of France seems inclined to do so.   No president or prime minister will be able to take back control of their borders until, as O’Flynn states in today’s Coffee House, they leave the European Court of Human Rights. The Court, aided and abetted by its allies in individual countries, is now wilfully interfering with government policy. And in the process it is endangering the lives of Europeans.   You may remember an article written in these pages a week ago by Andrew Tettenborn, professor of law at Swansea Law School. It was titled ‘If France can ignore the ECHR, why can’t we?

Emmanuel Macron refused to accept the resignation of his interior minister on Monday evening after the government’s immigration bill was thrown out of parliament. It was a crushing humiliation for Gerald Darmanin, as well as Macron, and a moment of exquisite pleasure for their many political opponents.  In an unprecedented show of unity, right and left came together to adopt by just five votes a motion proposed by the Green Party to reject the bill without even debating it. They did so, however, for different reasons.

Emmanuel Macron will address France in the coming weeks in what is being billed as a ‘Message of Unity’ speech. According to Le Monde, the president is aware that the country is in turmoil but he believes he can make France great again. ‘The role I have assigned myself is to hold the country together,’ Macron is quoted as saying. ‘Between denial and over-dramatisation, there is room for lucidity that involves examining the country's problems but also not letting it fall apart.’ Those problems are many, from a cost of living crisis to violent crime and much in between. The French have a reputation for not looking on the bright side of life, but there is little to be cheerful about these days in the Republic.

There was more bloodshed in Paris this weekend, this time involving a man who, prosecutors claim, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS). A German tourist was killed as he strolled close to the Eiffel Tower with his wife during the attack on Saturday evening. Two other passers-by, including a Briton, were wounded by the assailant, who French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ and ranted about Muslims dying in Afghanistan and Palestine as he launched his deadly assault. Police used a stun gun to stop the man who is being questioned by anti-terror police. France is supposed to be on high alert following the outbreak of war in the Middle East, but there are mounting questions about how this attack was not prevented.

On Monday, the spokesman for Emmanuel Macron's government, Olivier Véran, visited the village of Crépol in south-eastern France. A fortnight ago few people had heard of Crépol, but on the evening of Saturday 18 November a gang of youths from an inner city a few miles away gatecrashed the village dance.   In the maelstrom of violence that ensued, a 16-year-old local called Thomas was fatally stabbed. Several other young partygoers were wounded and one eye-witness told reporters their attackers had stormed the venue vowing to ‘kill a white’.   The bitter truth is that few people in France have any confidence left in Macron and his government For 24 hours there was barely a murmur from the government.

Dutch politics got a blast from the past on Monday when a right-wing politician was assaulted. The country goes to the polls tomorrow and the hospitalisation of Thierry Baudet, attacked with a bottle in a bar in the northern city of Groningen, is a reminder of what happened to Pim Fortuyn in 2002.  After being assaulted in the weeks leading up to the Dutch elections, the flamboyant right-wing Fortuyn was then shot dead nine days before voters went to the polls. His assassin was an animal rights extremist who told a court he didn’t like the way Fortuyn talked about Muslims.  Many people on the left long ago gave up protecting free speech and a growing number appear prepared to tolerate violence  Baudet is a repeat victim of left-wing aggression.