Window-dressing reforms
Oh the cynicism of it all! It is becoming increasingly difficult to have faith in the French government – not as a government necessarily but as a bunch of individuals who are supposed to have some integrity.
Ten days ago former Prime Minister Edouard Balladur handed in his 77 proposals for reforming parliament and the way France is governed. Article 23 suggests putting an end to the practice of dual or triple mandates for ministers: once asked to be part of a government one should drop all elected positions – mayor, member of regional council or (most surprisingly) member of parliament. Many people in France welcome the proposal as a first step to ending all dual mandates, believing that someone who is, say, mayor of a large town (i.e. has municipal responsibilities), member of the regional council, member of parliament and government minister must be split in too many directions to do justice to all his/her jobs – or conversely may be pushing his/her local interests too much at a national level to the exclusion of others. Local lobbying is no less insidious than lobbying by industrials - particularly when the person doing the lobbying is a government minister. The text of the 18th proposal is quite clear on this point: “The functions of a member of the government are incompatible with the exercise of all elected mandates.” It is indeed hard to know how they do any of their jobs well. I have a friend who has three mandates and spends only two days a week in Paris working at his parliamentary duties, indicative of how little importance he gives them.
Balladur’s Report has to be first of all thought about by the president. It then has to be debated and voted upon by parliament. However, last night the Minister of Justice, Rachida Dati, who holds no elected office, announced that she will stand as mayoress for one of the Paris arrondissements. In other words without waiting to see how parliament votes she is seeking a double mandate, clearly believing that Balladur’s proposal will be thrown out. Given her high profile and the publicity she knew would surround her announcement, she must be pretty certain of her ground.
Part of Balladur’s remit was to give the French parliament a bit more power: Dati’s announcement last night shows us what she (and presumably her mentor Nicolas Sarkozy) thinks of that.
November 7th, 2007 at 10:03 am
“a bunch of individuals who are supposed to have some integrity”…
Welcome to the world as it is now is, Tim. There appear to be few Western governments not composed of self-seeking lightweights, with notions of integrity and ethics being dismissed as ‘idealism’. Whether it’s pork-barrel politics in Washington, Blairite lies in London or multi-mandates in Paris, it all comes to the same thing. They like to call it ‘realpolitik’. Real it ain’t. Window-dressing has replaced policy-making, empty promises and plain untruths have become the norm and anything that proves difficult just doesn’t happen. “L’Omnipresident” continues to distract attention with his rather engaging hyperactivity, but it seems increasingly to be the case that he can’t distinguish between activity and action. Once upon a time we had politicians who wanted to change the world to make it a better place - now we have people in government whose apirations are at about the same level as those of reality TV contestants.
November 7th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
You are of course absolutely right. However what shocks (I think that is the word) me about Ms Dati’s latest move is its pure cynicism. “Better” politicians might try to dissimulate in some way, turn on the spin. Maybe her approach, more honest, is better.
November 7th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
I’m not convinced that even ‘cynical’ is the mot juste. That at least would ascribe some sort of thought-out attitude. What’s depressing is the default ’so what?’ attitude that seems so prevalent, the kind of amorality that says “everybody does it, what’s the problem?”. Not sure whether there’s much of a choice between the shameless and the slick…sinking into november gloom!