[EuroTrash]

There doesn't seem to be a means to direct individual comments to elected officials here

I was surprised to read this.
Long time ago when Flamby Hollande was considering bringing the then-new auto entrepreneur scheme to an early end, I emailed my conseiller général asking her to oppose it and explaining why. I got a very civil and detailed reply. And from that point on I was on her mailing list and I got regular invites to all kinds of functions. I very much felt that she represented not me in particular but the good folk in dept 61.

 

[Bevdeforges]

I suspect this is another of those things that varies greatly by district or by the individual conseiller in an area. When I had my immigration problems, my husband ed the Assemblée member to ask for assistance. He wound up getting an appointment with one of the staffers for the member - who said that the assemblée member would write a letter on my behalf to the préfet, which he did - at least we got a copy of what was supposed to be a letter written by the assemblé member, but more likely written by a staff member. The préfet basically responded telling us to pound sand (as the expression goes) and there was no follow up of any sort. So your mileage may vary depending on where you live and who your politician is (probably also what party they belong to).

 

[Nunthewiser]

That could work as long as you are not colored nor of Arab appearance and not perchance Muslim.

Or not native born French...oops!

 

[Whatever 76]

In the short term, I expect current trends to continue; authoritanism, increased monitoring and repression of opposants, deterioration, and/or subcontracting of so called public services (justice, education, health, social care ...), drastic cuts in govt spending to finance the national debt, increasing gap between rich and poor, greenwashing in the face of climate change, expeditive expulsion or house arrest for migrants and eventually border checks on visitors - echoing neighbouring
Strikes, demonstrations and social unrest are also quite likely, being a recognised part of French democracy - when the govt turns a deaf ear to the message that the voters sent, well the gilets jaunes (yellow jackets) took to the streets for much less than that.
In the long term, I can't see any overturning of these tendencies although being a fervent er of the NFP left-wing coalition's program.

As for the effect on expats, the huge influx of immigration towards and Europe has already given rise to increasingly difficult istrative procedures - hard to imagine that they aren't already at their apogee!
Globally if expats can provide proof of sufficient income, ancestry, marriage, command of French language then procedures are fair but often victim of chronic understaffing.

Supposed huge influx, the chant of the RN and hard right for years, though it has been well demonstrated many times that it is a fallacy and that there is no so-called grand remplacement.

Even a couple of highly respected personalities of Les Républicains as the party of the right is currently known have declared in no uncertain that the left (NFP) won the legislative elections (the guy who headed up the Conseil Constitutionnel in the years immdiately following the establishment of the 5th Republic, and Villepin.

 

[Poloss]

There isn't a huge influx of immigrants though of course Americans and others, contribute to that. Any figures available in are based on your place of birth and nothing else.

Perhaps a steady flow would be the appropriate term to use.
Huge influx - it's vague and has a negative connotation
implying that I disapprove of immigration, which I don't.
If my home country was stricken by war, drought, famine etc, I'd look elsewhere for a better future.

I mentioned immigration to and Europe. We are neighbours to many regions in great difficulty.
I'm thinking of war in Bosnia, in Irak, in Libya, in Afghanistan, in Syria, in Palestine.
Conditions in sub Saharan Africa are pushing people to move.
Europe has become a fortress to deter migrants - does that effectively decrease the number of people arriving?
No idea, but it has certainly increased the number of people suffering or perishing while trying.
Isn't it inevitable that more and more people will flee their homeland at great risk and head for Europe?

 

[Poloss]

Have moved this over to the Bistro, since it's one of those discussions best conducted over a beer or a glass of wine.

I took up your invitation and was enjoying a couple of glasses of Bordeaux 2019 found chez the discounter NOZ while deciding to reply to the OP

I really want you to take that back since you have effectively said that I and other of my family are French even though most are French by descent on both sides. Not only that, but you are effectively saying that even children of French diplomats posted overseas are immigrants. cannot and does not collect data on nationality, only on the basis of place of birth!

Your comment took me aback, so I re-read my post but I it you got me lost!
Quote me the paragraph which irks you and I'll willingly review.
Did you mean to write: "I and other of my family are immigrants"
for "I and other of my family are French"?

 

[Bevdeforges]

Even a couple of highly respected personalities of Les Républicains as the party of the right is currently known have declared in no uncertain that the left (NFP) won the legislative elections

Yeah, and countless "personalities" of the Republican party (in the US) have declared that Trump "won" the debate on Tuesday night. Glad they think so, but you really need to watch the debate to see what's what.

BTW, certainly one of the more "interesting" summaries of the debate:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/11/opinion/trump-harris-debate-joseph-gordon-levitt.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KU4.YwiZ.exoLSG_iKth5&smid=url-share

Have gifted this, so you shouldn't run into paywall issues - at least for the next month or so.

 

[Whatever 76]

I took up your invitation and was enjoying a couple of glasses of Bordeaux 2019 found chez the discounter NOZ while deciding to reply to the OP

Your comment took me aback, so I re-read my post but I it you got me lost!
Quote me the paragraph which irks you and I'll willingly review.
Did you mean to write: "I and other of my family are immigrants"
for "I and other of my family are French"?

I meant immigrants, although we are all French, some born in for whom there is no issue, but others like me born outside but French by descent either via one or both parents. It's those of us born outside that I had in mind as we are all officially French since birth has been the law for a very very long time. So are we or aren't we immigrants? mostly gathers and publishes data based on place of birth as opposed to nationality. It's that data that is misleading and misused in particular by the RN, although it also generally doesn't take into departures.

 

[conky2]

Trump has allegedly ducked out of any further debates.......running scared now !

 

[Ozboygsl]

Yes, we have noticed that about the NYT, and other outlets that are supposed to report the news in a factual, non-biased manner. It is a shame, and it shows that we need to look at the owner of that outlet and what we know of their views. It's all about money and power, right? For the record, I was talking about the past, certainly not today's world. We all need to be careful where we get our news from, and fact-check it ourselves.

The nyt are literally scum of the earth. Did they ever have credibility???

 

[Chrissippus]

The Times did in the at the time of the Pentagon Papers. But that was then.

 

[Whatever 76]

There will be strikes at French public hospitals on 1 October. They want higher salaries, improved conditions, more equipment and staff, cancellation of the retirement law and pensions at age 60, and pretty much everyone else you can think of.

 

[Peasant]

What are your objective observations as expats regarding French politics and where may be heading in the short and long-term? What do you see and foresee as the effects on expats in the country?

At least the left and center-left can still get it together to defeat the far right.
Even the RN (far right) think that Trump is insane.

 

[Chrissippus]

At least the left and center-left can still get it together to defeat the far right.
Even the RN (far right) think that Trump is insane.

But Barnier was put in place by right-wing Macron and far-right Le Pen. The left had nothing whatever to do with it.

 

[Whatever 76]

But Barnier was put in place by right-wing Macron and far-right Le Pen. The left had nothing whatever to do with it.

Put in place by Macron despite the fact that the NFP was the clear winner, albeit without an absolute majority. The Barnier government does not have an outright majority either, thus will be subject to the whims of the RN, as has already been demonstrated.

The previous Macron aligned government did not have an outright majority either, but Macron as President never took issue with it retaining power.

So much for democracy in .

 

[Peasant]

Put in place by Macron despite the fact that the NFP was the clear winner, albeit without an absolute majority.

No majority, not a winner.

 

[Whatever 76]

No majority, not a winner.

Relative majority = winner. If not, then the government's had since the previous legislative elections were all the result of electoral LOSSES.

Anyway, censure motion against Barnier tomorrow.

The Barnier govt is entirely made up of election losing parties, cobbled together and I totally illegitimate. It can't survive long.

 

[Peasant]

Relative majority = winner.

180 seats out of 577 is not even a "relative" majority, it's a minority.
If only the French had a tradition of compromise and coalition building...

 

[Whatever 76]

180 seats out of 577 is not even a "relative" majority, it's a minority.
If only the French had a tradition of compromise and coalition building...

LR 5th in the election, 4th if you count Ciotti. NFP 1st.
The NFP went to the election as a coalition with an explicit program That's probably the best way to do a coalition
because voters know who and what they are voting for, so it's better than forming an ad hoc coalition with NO program after the election.

 

[Touloob]

It's an unhappy situation for , which as Peasant says, doesn't have the tradition of coalition building. The problem with using the table of election results is that a party coming first does not mean it has "won" - the game has fundamentally changed: the game now is to form a government with enough not to be brought down in short order. Any government dominated by NFP would have suffered that fate, which was made clear by the RN and LR. Unfortunately the NFP seemed not to be flexible enough to form a robust coalition with other groups; this appeared (but correct me if I'm wrong) to hinge on an unwillingness to get behind a Prime Minister who was acceptable to a wide enough constituency. The consequence is that right/centre right groups (with grudging and qualified from RN) have grubbed together behind Barnier.

The Dutch have a basically non-partisan PM even though the far-right Wilders "won" their election; it remains to be seen how the Austrian government turns out after the far-right came first in the recent elections. But it seems to me that forming coalitions that force compromise can sometimes have advantages.