by NordicStorm
Mon Apr 2nd, 2007 at 04:41:05 PM EST
Eurotrib user someone has previously done a run-down of Swedish media coverage of the French presidential election.
Swedish daily newspaper Expressen is apparently not happy with the French presidential campaign. In a recent editorial they're lamenting the fact that there's no "self-proclaimed liberal" among the twelve candidates.
What follows is the usual neoliberal talking points bashing all things French. The economy is in the toilet, unemployment is enormous, France is in decline, liberal reform is the only cure. Not even Sarkozy is spared from the wrath of Expressen, though towards the end they manage to squeeze in some faint praise anyway.
Fransk fåfänga
Tur att man inte är fransk väljare. I det startfält som ställer upp i presidentvalet 22 april återfinns socialister, trotskister, en globaliseringsmotståndare och nationalister, men inte en enda självutnämnd liberal.
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French vanity
It's fortunate one isn't part of the French electorate. In the line-up participating in the presidential election on April 22 you can find socialists, trotskyists, an opponent of globalisation and nationalists, but not a single self-proclaimed liberal.
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Och i stället för att debattera Frankrikes enorma problem - en skyhög ungdomsarbetslöshet, låg tillväxt och en genomreglerad och statsdominerad ekonomi - domineras dagordningen av nationalistiska teman.
Högerns kandidat Nicolas Sarkozy har sjunkit allra djupast genom att föreslå ett ministerium för "immigration och nationell identitet".
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And instead of debating France's enormous problems - sky high youth unemployment numbers, low growth and a through and through regulated and state dominated economy - the order of the day is dominated by nationalist themes.
The right's candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has sunk to the lowest level of all by proposing a ministry for "immigration and national identity."
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Efter tolv borttappade år med Jacques Chirac borde Frankrikes väljare törsta efter verklig förändring. Landet sackar ohjälpligt efter och alla de problem som Chirac en gång lovade att lösa har tvärtom förvärrats. I stället för att hela Frankrikes "sociala frakturer", som Chirac lovade, har förorterna exploderat i upplopp. I stället för förändring och reformer blev det tolv år av stagnation.
De franska väljarna skulle behöva presidentkandidater som vågar säga de obekväma sanningarna. Som att det är dags att vakna upp till den globaliserade världen. Frankrike måste öppna upp sin ekonomi, sitt jordbruk och sin kultur.
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After twelve lost years with Jacques Chirac, the French electorate should be thirsting for real change. The country is falling hopelessly behind and all the problems Chirac once promised to solve have, on the contrary, worsened. Instead of healing France's "social fractures," as Chirac promised, the suburbs have exploded in riots. Instead of change and reforms there was twelve years of stagnation.
The French electorate would need presidential candidates who dare to speak the unpleasant truths. Like the fact that it's time to wake up to the globalised world. France must open its economy, its agriculture and its culture.
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| Men ingen av presidentkandidaterna har haft modet att ta en sådan debatt. Sarkozy har visserligen flaggat för reformer tidigare, men det budskapet har på sistone drunknat i protektionistiska utspel och i hans allt skamlösare nationalistiska offensiv. Royal vågar inte utmana sina vänsterväljare och den nye uppstickaren, François Bayrou, rasar mot vad han kallar för "orättvis utländsk konkurrens" och förordar ett beskyddande EU. | |
But none of the presidential candidates has had the courage to take part in such a debate. Sarkozy has certainly previously signaled for reforms, but that message has recently drowned in protectionist outbursts and in his ever more shameless nationalist offensive. Royal dares not challenge her left-wing electorate, and the new emergent candidate, François Bayrou, rages against what he calls "unfair foreign competition" and promotes a protective EU. |
So, in other words, they would be fine with Sarkozy, if he would just stop draping himself in the Tricolore and bashing foreigners. A bit of liberal "reform" and
voilà! the "sick man of Europe" will be back on his feet in no time.
Although Royal doesn't figure prominently in the editorial, they manage to get in a dig at her of the not-so-subtle kind. If you click on the link above, do note how the editorial begins with a large picture of Ségolène Royal immediately above the headline,
Fransk fåfänga, French vanity. When Expressen writes about "French vanity," the image they want you to have in your mind is that of Ségolène Royal. One wonders why.
The larger point the editorial is trying to make is that the nationalist themes running in some of the campaigns are distracting from issues that, you know, matter. Which, in itself, is a perfectly legitimate point. But Expressen's contention seems to be that the issues being distracted from consist primarily of how one most effectively dismantles the social safety net and lets liberalism rule supreme.
