Allons Enfants...

Tenho seguido ao longe a campanha presidencial francesa, mas nestes últimos dias li com mais cuidado o que na imprensa se vai escrevendo, mas voltei-me sobretudo para a imprensa britânica. Para além daquela distância e frieza típicas do jornalismo anglo-saxão, eu já sei que um olhar britânico sobre os francesas é sempre pontuado com mais ironia do que a utilizada normalmente, e isso faz com que a leitura seja, além de informativa, divertida. 

A percepção com que fiquei é a de que são identificadas duas grandes questões. A primeira, que não é nova, tem a ver com a dificuldade que a França tem de se olhar de se ver a si própria. De enfrentar a realidade dos problemas económicos e financeiros com que se debate. De evoluir: a sociedade francesa continua acorrentada a uma ideia de intelectualidade e esquerdismo, já há muito desusada. O artigo da BBC é particularmente irónico sobre esta imagem de político e de intelectual/esquerda que perdura entre os franceses. 

A segunda questão tem a ver com o sentimento anti-Sarkozy que domina hoje o ambiente político em França. Sarkozy não corresponde à imagem da elite política a que os franceses estão (estavam?) habituados; não perde tempo a louvar a ‘Grandeur de la France’; exibe alguns tiques de novo-riquismo, é exuberante, etc. Ironicamente os franceses são contra Sarkozy por questões pessoais mais do que políticas. François Hollande, como ilustra o cartoon do The Economist só consegue entusiasmar por ser tão diferente de Sarkozy, nunca por mérito próprio. 

Deixo aqui excertos de alguns artigos que li e que ilustram estas questões. 

“If Mr Sarkozy is over the top, Mr Hollande is the bare minimum.” 

“I think Sarkozy will be beaten, (...) Not because of his policies, but his attitude. (…) It’s a rejection of the man.” 

 “Indeed, polls suggest the French rate Mr Sarkozy more highly than Mr Hollande for most traits to do with leadership.” 

“There is much frustration in the Sarkozy camp that his talent is not better appreciated.” 

“The French also recognise Mr Sarkozy’s energetic efforts during the euro crisis. He has pushed through unpopular reforms (…). Next to all this, Mr Hollande, a Socialist (…) (who) has never had a ministerial job, is a debutant: his biggest crisis was a 2005 party split over the draft European Union constitution. With his friends from the Mitterrand era, there is little fresh about him.” 

(The Economist, The Anti-Sarkozy Vote) 

 “Visit the euro zone and you will be invigorated by gusts of reform. (…). But one country has yet to face up to its changed circumstances.” 

“Yet what is most striking about the French election is how little anybody is saying about the country’s dire economic straits.” 

“It is not unusual for politicians to avoid some ugly truths during elections; but it is unusual, in recent times in Europe, to ignore them as completely as French politicians are doing. In Britain, Ireland, Portugal and Spain voters have plumped for parties that promised painful realism. Part of the problem is that French voters are notorious for their belief in the state’s benevolence and the market’s heartless cruelty. Almost uniquely among developed countries, French voters tend to see globalisation as a blind threat rather than a source of prosperity.” 

“Besides, there is a more worrying possibility than insincerity. The candidates may actually mean what they say. And with Mr Hollande, who after all is still the most likely victor, that could have dramatic consequences.” 

(The economist, A country in denial) 

“For Bercoff, the other reason why the president is loathed is that he has told the French some inconvenient truths.” 

"The French were happy as long as they were ruled by a Mitterrand or Chirac, leaders who nurtured their post-Revolutionary belief that the French are a kind of chosen people for whom the normal rules of economics don't apply," he says. (…)But Sarkozy punctured that illusion - and again people hate him for it.” 

“But as Ferjou also points out: "More than 60% of people voting for Hollande say they are going to do it purely to get rid of Sarkozy. Perhaps not the most positive way to embark on a new political era.”
(BBC, Nicholas Sarkozy, Why is the French President so Disliked?)