H.J. KAPLAN
23
the erstwhile Opposition, which had again won a majority in the National
Assembly, although the debate on Maastricht revealed deep divisions
among the Gaullists, and it now appears highly doubtful that the
Maastricht program - from which the British had already distanced
themselves - will actually retain majority support in France and achieve its
declared purpose: a Europe irreversibly integrated, with a single currency
and effective coordination of national policies in social matters, defense
and foreign affairs. The new post-Maastricht community, faced with its
first serious test, a Europe-wide recession with very high levels of unem–
ployment, seems increasingly unwieldy and irrelevant to the French,
whose heads are elsewhere, at the moment, as my wife puts it - meaning
jobs, the social situation, Bosnia, Algeria, the schools, etc. Of course she
voted against ratification, and feels that the entire contraption will be put
aside as her compatriots come to realize that it condemns their economy
to eternal dependence on the de£lationist policies of the German central
bank, which means a strong currency, to be sure, but little or no growth,
as far ahead as the eye can see. Meanwhile the social fabric rots, with over
three million unemployed and the social security system verging on bank–
ruptcy. In consequence, the idea of a European union built around a
Franco-German core is losing its appeal in this country and, for similar
reasons, elsewhere in Western Europe as well.
January
31,1996
In the realm of internal French politics, however, Mitterrand's her–
itage would appear to be more secure: a realignment of political forces
which seems likely to endure at least into the new century - with the
Communists disappearing into the proverbial dustbin of history and the
Far Right beefed up (with the help of a clever change in the voting sys–
tem) in order to split the conservatives and prepare the ground for a return
of Social Democracy to power. To be sure, Franc;ois Mitterrand was not
single-handedly responsible for the eclipse of the Communists and the
rise of M. Le Pen's National Front. His role was to perceive and make use
of these developments, first to consolidate his own power and then to
improve the future prospects of the Left - and if this also meant improv–
ing the prospects of M. Le Pen,
tant pis!
Or rather - since the National
Front would at once serve as a scarecrow and drain votes away from the
respectable Right -
tant mieux!
February
6, 1996
So the fever has run its course.
The tumult and the shouting dies
-
The
captains and the kings depart
- and it occurs to me to wonder what it is
about this spectacle that has so transfixed me - at a time when, according
