François Sureau, a member of the Académie française and a former lawyer at France’s Council of State and Court of Cassation, says the country’s current crisis is being worsened by politicians’ tendency to evade the will of voters. His latest book, L’heure française, has been published by Gallimard.
Sureau argues that this practice is not new, but has become more explicit. He points to the 2005 referendum on the European Constitutional Treaty, in which voters rejected the proposal, and says their decision was subsequently bypassed.
He also cites the 2024 legislative elections, saying voters made clear they no longer wanted Macronism, but that political power remained concentrated around Emmanuel Macron’s inner circle. Sureau describes such manoeuvres as attempts to stay in power and retain its benefits.
A former ally of Macron, Sureau is a defender of civil liberties. The article presents his book and remarks as a sharp indictment of the government’s response to social unrest and, more broadly, the president’s two terms in office. The available excerpt does not include the full interview.
Sources: Le Monde Politique.