Oriol Bartomeus: "Macron has meant the failure of the last attempt to solve the French identity crisis"

BarcelonaFor a month now, French students have been blocking high schools and demonstrating in the streets. Initially, the protests began to demand more resources for the education system, but for days now, the students' demands have been an amendment to the entirety of Macronism and the austerity budget proposed by Sébastien Lecornu's executive. This weekend, students and workers joined in a major mobilization throughout the French state against the rising cost of living and the lack of responses from the administration. The rage erupted with 90 demonstrations and more than 500 protests called, which ended with serious riots across the country, vandalism of public buildings, and looting of shops.

We speak with Oriol Bartomeus, director of the Institute of Political and Social Sciences at the UAB, about the political moment France is experiencing and the implications of the protests with only a few months left until the crucial presidential elections.

To what extent is the weekend's outburst of rage related to the student protests of the last month?

— The outburst of rage is related, not because one thing goes with the other, but because both things respond to the context of the end of a regime that the presidential elections in May represent. To a certain extent, there is a feeling that the current political majority has no succession. Until now, it could happen that the outgoing party could win or lose the presidential elections, but it never happened that the outgoing president would just leave and that's it. This ties in with something that has been coming for a long time, and which ties in with the very appearance of Macronism. France has been suffering from an identity crisis for years, and the appearance of Macron in 2017 is an attempt to solve this crisis and revive French greatness. The Macron years have meant the failure of the latest attempt to solve the identity crisis. The political parties had not been able to solve the problems, but Macronism has not been able to either.

Was so much violence foreseeable?

— The first 'yellow vest' protests were already very violent. In France, all the floodgates that in some way gave social discourse a polite and consensual tone have been blown away. It is not an exception, it has happened everywhere, but in France this phenomenon is especially strong.

In what situation do the protests leave Macronism?

— Not only the protests, the demonstrations, but also the political moment in France, leave Macronism in a moment of end of regime. It is as if everything were falling to pieces. Macronism is falling to pieces.

Will political parties be capable of channeling the unrest?

— Some of the main parties with chances of winning the presidential elections do not channel this unrest but rather take advantage of it. They try to catch the wave and benefit from this unrest. Both Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen are direct beneficiaries of the unrest. I would not say they incite it, but they do benefit from it and ride the wave. They do not intend to channel it through political response mechanisms. All parties understand that they are incapable of channeling the protest, and what they do is try to ensure the protest does not sweep them away. The entire French political class is incapable of channeling and directing the protest.

How can the protests affect the presidential race?

— The protests are not directed by anyone, and they will fully affect the presidential elections. The fear of the moderate electorate will increase, and the radicalization of some sectors will also increase. If Le Pen is able to propose herself or appear as the person or the political option that can stop this, the protests could be very beneficial to her.

Will the protests subside, or do you predict they will continue?

— It is possible that it will continue until the presidential elections arrive, and that it will come in waves, subsiding and resurfacing periodically. In fact, the yellow vest protests were like that: it was an outburst, it seemed like it would never end, and suddenly it disappeared.