Yesterday, a huge victory by the National Front in a local election had the nanmnycrat alarm bells ringing.
Please consider French far-right victory stirs fear among mainstream parties
A local council by-election in a small town in the sleepy hinterland of France’s Côte d’Azur would not normally be the stuff to shake national – much less international – politics.Fingerpointing
But a decisive victory by the National Front (FN) in Brignoles on Sunday night has set alarm bells ringing in Paris that the far-right party, led by Marine Le Pen, will repeat the feat more widely across the country in municipal elections in March.
Just as ominous, not just for mainstream parties in France but across the EU, is the prospect that the vote signals a much-feared surge by the populist right in European elections due in May.
The bickering, finger-pointing and blame-placing events in the wake of the election are rather amusing.
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault blamed the FN’s win over the centre-right UMP on its leaders “who didn’t lift a finger to defend their candidate”.Poisoned Policies
Jean-Francois Copé, the UMP’s president, responded that Mr Ayrault should “come to his senses”, saying the result was caused by President François Hollande’s “calamitous” Socialist government, which backed the Communist candidate in Brignoles.
Both parties are afraid that the FN’s campaigns against crime, immigration, Islam, the EU and globalisation are striking a chord with voters at a time of double-digit unemployment and deep disillusionment over the ability of the traditional parties to deal with the country’s problems.
“The FN poison contaminates a whole country and all its politics,” commented Libération, the leftwing newspaper.
Those looking for poisoned economic policies should look no further than the policies of socialist president Francois Hollande. Here are a seven prime examples.
- October 10, 2013: Law of Career Security: France's Minister of Digital Economy Orders Telecom Companies "to be Virtuous and Patriotic" and to Use Alcatel-Lucent to Prevent Layoffs
- October 3, 2013: France Vows to "Save the Bookstores", Fixes Price of Books, Bans Free Shipping by Amazon
- May 17, 2013: Hollande Asks ECB to Engage in Japanese Style Currency Debasement
- March 22, 2013: Hollande Announces 20 "Confidence Shock" Measures to Support Home Building
- January 28, 2013: France "Totally Bankrupt" Says Labour Minister; Inappropriate or Inaccurate?
- October 31, 2012: "Google Law" Yet Another Warped Policy by Hollande; Government Motors French Style
- June 8, 2012: Hollande About to Wreck France With Economically Insane Proposal: "Make Layoffs So Expensive For Companies That It's Not Worth It"
Eventually Will Come A Time
Let's flashback to November 23, 2011, to my statement Eventually, Will Come a Time When ....
Eventually, there will come a time when a populist office-seeker will stand before the voters, hold up a copy of the EU treaty and (correctly) declare all the "bail out" debt foisted on their country to be null and void. That person will be elected.Le Pen was too early in 2011 and 2012. She may be too early still. And France may not even be the right country. But ... "All it will take, is for one charismatic person, timing social mood correctly, to say precisely one right thing at exactly the right time. It will happen."
Le Pen may be too early, and France may not be that country, but the time will come.
Greece, Finland, Germany, Belgium, and even France are possibilities. All it will take, is for one charismatic person, timing social mood correctly, to say precisely one right thing at exactly the right time. It will happen.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
