09 February 2017
A small cultural revolution
Can Macron revive France?
by Richard Pooley
Margot, the 22-year old daughter of our village potter came to get some advice from me the weekend before last. Recently graduated in Marketing and Communication, she is going to London at the end of this month. She has never been there, speaks hardly any English and does not have a job to go to. She wanted some tips on how and where to find a job and accommodation. Her mother (the potter), boyfriend and younger brother listened in as I told her to head for South Kensington, where she was as likely to hear French as English, and to drop in on London’s ground zéro français, the Lycée Charles de Gaulle. She had done lots of research online already and was able to tell me about the costs and perils of colocation (flat-sharing) in London these days. What surprised me was how unaware these young French people were of the size of the French population in London. I gave them Boris’s figure of 250,000 and they were astonished. The boyfriend said there were surely far more Indians. I pointed out that these were British Asians, so not a foreign population. The reasons she was going were no surprise though: to learn English, of course, but also to experience a city which to her appears to offer far more opportunities to find a good job and have a richer life than any in France, including Paris.
The day after I saw Margot, I was reading the latest results of the annual CEVIPOF survey, a product of the Paris-based Centre de recherches politiques de Sciences Po, one of France’s most prestigious universities. It is a study of how much confidence the French have in the government agencies, companies and institutions which influence their lives or with which they come into contact on a regular basis. It has only been going since 2009 but is eagerly awaited and much commented on. CEVIPOF’s director, Professor Martial Foucault, had this to say about the results for 2016: “These figures translate into a small cultural revolution in the territory of economic ideas.” What, in particular, he was referring to was the recent extraordinary rise in regard for entrepreneurs and for small and medium-sized companies (PMEs in French). Last year 83% of French people believed their hospitals were well run (and by extension the whole national health system), unchanged from 2009. The army stood at 82%, up slightly. But from nowhere just two years ago, PMEs have risen to 81% in popularity. Meanwhile French people’s faith in their big state companies has dipped from 63% to 46% and their faith in big private companies has gone from 50% to 43%. Bottom in people’s estimation are the Trades Unions (26%), the Media (24%) and – surprise, surprise – Political Parties (11%, down from 14% in 2009). 63% of respondents agreed with the statement that “The State must have faith in companies and give them more freedom.” 41% agreed with this in 2009. As one commentator said: “It’s clear that the majority of the French understand all too well the difficulties entrepreneurs face in a State which is tentacular and coercive.” A recent poll by Opinion Way, the organisation which conducts the CEVIPOF survey for Sciences Po, found that 60% of French people aged between 18 and 29 would like to set up or be part of a new company.
Just before Margot and her brother and boyfriend left my house I asked them who they were going to vote for in the French presidential election. Their answers were immediate and unanimous: Emmanuel Macron, the 39-year old ex-Economy Minister and founder of new political movement En Marche! , who wants to reform France’s anti-entrepreneurial Labour Law and give companies the freedom to employ people like Margot. I refer you back to an article “What does Entrepreneur mean to the French” which I wrote almost exactly a year ago.
There are still ten weeks and ten more editions of Le Canard Enchainé to go before the first round of the election. Much could yet happen which could undermine the chances of any of the main candidates, Macron included. But there is a fair chance that a small cultural revolution in the French territory of economic ideas will bring him to power.
If you enjoyed this article please share it using the buttons above.
Please click here if you would like a weekly email on publication of the ShawSheet
