Tony Blair can leave his job as Prime Minister with at least one cause for satisfaction: ‘Blairism’ has triumphed on this side of the Channel. And that is all to the good.
It is a triumph not of the content of future French policy (nobody here approves of Blair’s decision on Iraq) but of a new political approach. A younger, more modern style, a calculated, scientific use of the media, which means not just smiling in the studio but creating an event by being there on the spot and meeting the actors involved in the dramas and successes of our time. It means abandoning the post-war ideological ‘markers’ that did so much to delay old Europe’s adjustment to the new world. When Blair was formally received at the French National Assembly, he astounded the right and angered the left by calmly declaring that there is not a right-wing or left-wing economic policy, there is a policy that works and one that fails. As a socialist, he said, I choose the policy that works; then, as a socialist, I can distribute the fruits of success. It is also worth noting that he is more attached to moral values than to doctrine.
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With 85% of voters proud to have performed their civic duty, 75% of whom had already voted for the main government parties in the first round, compared with only one in three five years ago when every second voter stayed at home, the Republic has made a comeback. This is very good news indeed!
‘The rehabilitation of politics’. That was Nicolas Sarkozy’s motto for years. Too many promises not kept, too many major and minor scandals and, above all, too many failures of economic policy and too much cowardice about the necessary reforms had undermined people’s trust in the successive majorities. No outgoing parliamentary majority has been re-elected since 1981. The scepticism, disgust and despair of many of our compatriots found their supreme expression on 21 April 2002. On that day, 70% of workers and employees either abstained or opted for extremist parties. And then 29 May 2005 saw a majority of French citizens choosing to say ‘no’ to Europe as a gesture of defiance towards those who represented them there.
That page has been turned. A new chapter is opening. A new political generation is speaking the language of its time. The French are rediscovering the pride and potency of exercising citizenship. It is they who have sovereign power, who can bend candidates to their will. There was a time for protest. Now the time for responsibility has returned. Never have extremist candidates, or candidates with too specialised a message, been abandoned in such numbers.
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85% des électeurs fiers d’accomplir leur devoir civique. 75% d’entre eux votant dès le premier tour pour les représentants des grands partis de gouvernement, alors qu’il y a cinq ans ils n’étaient qu’un sur trois à le faire, et qu’un électeur sur deux était resté à la maison. La République est de retour. C’est une formidable bonne nouvelle !
« Réhabiliter la politique ». C’était, depuis des années, le leitmotiv de Nicolas Sarkozy. Trop de promesses non tenues, trop de petits ou gros scandales, et surtout, trop d’échecs dans la politique économique et trop de pusillanimité dans les réformes nécessaires avaient miné la confiance dans les majorités successives : depuis 1981, aucune majorité parlementaire sortante n’a été réélue. Scepticisme, dégoût, désespoir de beaucoup de nos compatriotes ont trouvé leur expression suprême le 21 avril 2002 : ce jour-là, 70% des ouvriers et des employés se sont abstenus, ou ont choisi des partis extrêmes ; et le 29 mai 2005, qui a vu une majorité de Français préférer dire « non » à l’Europe par défiance envers ceux qui les y représentaient.
Cette page est tournée. Un nouveau chapitre s’ouvre. Une nouvelle génération politique parle le langage de son temps. Les Français redécouvrent la fierté et la toute puissance de l’exercice de la citoyenneté : ce sont eux les souverains, capables d’assujettir les candidats à leur bon plaisir. Il y a eu un temps pour la protestation. Voici revenu le temps de la responsabilité: jamais les candidats extrémistes, ou porteurs d’un message trop spécialisé, n’ont été autant délaissés.
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