Mobilization of November 7: “The government is listening,” assures Éléonore Caroit, Minister Delegate in charge of the Francophonie

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Antoine Comte: We see that social anger is not weakening throughout the country. What did the government you belong to miss? Why does this social anger persist, or even grow?

Éléonore Caroit: We are in an extremely complicated moment, particularly on the international level. We can clearly see the effect of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz on the price of energy in France. You haven't had this many wars and conflicts since the end of World War II, you haven't had this much impact on Western and European economies in decades. Furthermore, you are at a time when you have an alliance government with an extremely divided assembly, therefore difficulty in moving forward with structural reforms.

The fault, perhaps, of the dissolution of 2024.

One thing is certain, it is that it has been more complicated since 2024. But already since 2022, you did not have a clear majority in the National Assembly. Above all, you have political groups that do not make the structural decisions that are necessary for our country. We can redo the match and rewrite history. In any case, today, the fact is that you have French people demonstrating for their purchasing power, their power to live, to have better living conditions, but above all you have a presidential deadline in six months with different candidates proposing different programs, and above all the need to influence these programs.

Was there a failure on the part of the government? Why not hold the social conference until Monday, November 9? We have the impression that there was also a delay in starting with the high school students and that this movement could perhaps have been avoided.

In any case, I hope that there will be calm, that there will be a dialogue which will allow us to be in good conditions to pass a budget because it is absolutely essential and then, precisely, to prepare for these deadlines. Could we have done this before? Can this anger be explained? You have anger which is recurrent and about the conditions in which it is expressed, about the fact that the price of energy, the price at the pump is much higher, it is cyclical and it is something on which we have an impact by diversifying our energy sources, by limiting the effect of this increase, but it is there.

Wasn't there a lack of anticipation on the part of the government?

You know, the government is listening. The government provides answers to high school students. Today, it offers social dialogue. He proposed social dialogue at the time of the pension reform, he proposed social dialogue every time there are demonstrations and protests. On the other hand, those who have an objective interest in these demonstrations becoming more and more numerous and potentially more and more violent are not on the side of the government, they are on the side of the candidates for the presidency of the Republic.

Who do you think of?

I am simply thinking of Marine Le Pen, who is making money because she benefits from this anger even though she is not proposing anything that is valid. I am thinking of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who says to himself that in a more insurrectional climate, he perhaps has a chance of having his face-to-face meeting with Marine Le Pen, which he has already dreamed of for several elections.

Can we blame him? It's doing politics, supporting social movements.

Do you think that playing politics fuels anger? To extinguish a debate is to extinguish a dialogue, it is to annihilate all forms of otherness, of dialogue with people who do not think like you. I think that doing politics means listening to the French, but it also means telling them what the objective reality of the world and of France is and providing solutions that are concrete and long-term for our country.