France General Discussion II: Living under Marxism

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...but why?

The PSFIO has fallen victim to the right's discourse on 'efficiency' (one in which, like in Spain, devolved government is seen as the culprit and 'inefficient') and it argues that France needs fewer, bigger regions (and they often say that Germany, Italy and Spain have fewer regions, ergo we need to be like them) which would reduce costs, save money, somehow make regional government more efficient and 'competitive'. The new reform says that the roots of grassroots local democracy ('close to the people') would be the intercommunalités, but that's problematic since their democratic credibility remains terribly weak despite the fact that most are (indirectly) elected now and they'll further lose in their 'proximity' to the people because the government wants to increase their average population from 5,000 to 20,000 (meaning that their whole song and dance about 'close to the people' devolved government is horsesh**t).

It betrays a traditional Jacobin and ultra-centralist way of thinking about local government and makes a farce out of 'decentralization', because once again, regions remain artificial creations imposed by official diktats from the Parisian gnomes. Flanby in his great wisdom didn't want to touch existing regional borders, and just merged existing ones, so he didn't correct injustices like the existence of the division of Brittany. Basically, the government treats regional government (and the intercommunalités, which are nearly just as much the product of diktats) as the equivalent of Wal-Mart stores which can just be merged, dissolved and managed from above. This government is destroying local government and making an even bigger joke out of 'decentralization' (a word which no French politician seems to understand, obviously) than Poison Dwarf's government.

The number isn't the problem; it's a lie invented by the centralists to download the costs and burden of the austerity horsesh**t on them, and just having 14 instead of 22 will do absolutely nothing for the people or the bigger budgetary picture (how about they start by abolishing the Senate, drastically cutting into the gravy train for the Parisian political elite and all the wasteful binge spending on useless pet projects and that kind of bullcrap?* A man can dream...). Instead of taking the burden of the "efforts" themselves, the government is just coming up with scapegoats to pretend that they're actually 'reforming' something.

Regions could and should be reformed, with different borders to make them closer to people and reflective of realities, with a key role to play in economic development, small business promotion, job creation, research, training and service delivery (as is the case in other countries, which need not be federations, naturally). To do that, they need more powers and resources - not less (the government is also planning to re-abolish the very important general competency clause, which Sarko axed before Flanby/Valls [as interior minister] re-created it); they need to be democratic and treated as regions rather economic planning divisions imposed by diktat. Everybody who knows how regional government works in France knows that cutting their number will not save costs (see this interview with Alain Rousset, the PS president of Aquitaine and a good regionalist thinker: http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2014/06/02/regions-hollande-est-face-a-un-obstacle-difficilement-franchissable_4430650_823448.html).

I know this trend isn't unique to France, and that I'm the only one out here who feels strongly about this, but... it's terribly depressing and horrible. France is going to the dogs.

* As I remember, France paid half the bill for my year in grade 1 at the lycée français in Munich (and Bavaria paid some of it, iirc); needless to say, France's return on investment in my case will be zilch since I have no intention of working/living in France atm. Anecdotal, yes, but one example of the binge spending on stuff which could be cut drastically. Besides all the 'cultural missions' to promote 'the grandeur of la France éternelle' crap.

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What's happening to the departments under the new reforms? I was under the apprehension they were perpetually under the chop.

It's complicated:
-In 2010, Poison Dwarf's reform merged the regional and general (departments) council into a single 'territorial council', a move which was very unpopular and which Flanby promised to repeal

-In 2012-3, Flanby, by way of Valls, who was then interior minister, passed a law which repealed the 2010 reform and re-created general councils, renamed as departmental councils. They redraw the maps of the cantons so that each canton would now elect two members, one man and one woman (the 'binome'), although you won't vote for two candidates separately but rather for two-people lists put up by parties/alliances and the same two-round system applies. This implied cutting the number of cantons down by half, to about 2000; this isn't bad per se because except in large urban areas, they hadn't touched cantonal boundaries since 1801, but once again it wasn't an independent redistricting. These elections will go ahead in 2015.

-In his speech detailing his agenda, Oberstgruppenführer Valls said that he'd abolish departmental councils by 2020 or 2022 (can't remember which date) and Flanby reiterated that today. So, basically, in their infinite wisdom, this government of sh**t re-created something which Poison Dwarf had abolished, only to later decide that they'd abolish it themselves. A+++ guys.

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If anyone has seen the latest Le Pen controversy, here's a backgrounder:

Panzerdaddy, in his online weekly 'show' (the deluded rants of a crazy old fascist on the FN website), was commenting on some left-wing artists refusing to put on shows in FN municipalities (which, btw, are turning up to be the racist and fascist disasters they were predicted to be) and particularly by the anti-FN comments of Patrick Bruel, a Jewish (Algerian-born) singer/poker player. Panzerdaddy, in yet another case of the inner racist and anti-Semite coming out, commented that "we'll include him in the next batch" (fournée - batch of bread to be baked). Obviously, such a vile anti-Semitic comment contradicts Panzergirl's smokescreen strategy and myth/lie of 'dediabolisation', so the Panzergirl clan got pissed.

The Prince Consort - Louis Aliot, a high-ranking FN cadre and Panzergirl's bf (but whom Panzerdaddy hates) - said that Panzerdaddy's comment was dismaying and stupid politically. Florian Philippot, the teacher's pet and very clean/polished 'technocrat' (whose 'far-right' and fascist credentials are quasi-nonexistent, which makes him suspect to the fascists), said that Panzerdaddy should have known what he was saying (but also said that they had no lessons to take from a rich guy like Bruel, and denied Panzerdaddy's comment was anti-Semitic). Gilbert Collard, who is not from the FN and is a bit more FN-lite and doesn't seem to be a vile racist and fascist turd (he's mostly a colourful and unpleasant crazy dolt) said that Panzerdaddy should retire and was obviously pissed. And finally Panzergirl said that Daddy had made a political mistake and it's obvious she's pissed off at Panzerdaddy.

Now Panzerdaddy is pissed that he's not allowed to mouth off his anti-Semitic and racist garbage, which for him speaks to his wider annoyance with the 'clean' image that Panzergirl has given 'his' party. So he said that those who 'misinterpreted' his comments (=Aliot) were 'imbeciles', disingenuously claimed that he didn't know Bruel was Jewish (but admitted that he would have said what he said even if he 'knew'), suggested that Panzergirl was being influenced by her young clique, that she was losing sight of the party's history/specificity by cleaning it up and insinuated that Collard was just a random loser who should fyck off.

Again, this speaks to a wider factional clash in the FN between Panzergirl/her young clique (the 'moderates' - the polished ones, who aren't openly racist, hide racism behind a smokescreen or who disguise their racism well; with a particular attention to keep the image clean, kick the Nazi loonies out, not associating with foreign Nazis, pretend as if this is a 'new' FN; a focus shift towards economic issues/social stuff, while still hating immigrants and bitching about security; following a ni droite-ni gauche strategy) and Panzerdaddy/Panzermiss/the old guard (the 'old radicals' - the less polished ones, who are often openly racist or don't mind being blatantly racist; don't care about the image as much, may not mind the presence of a few Nazi cranks/skinheads - or even hang out with them, like Panzermiss did once; emphasizing the founding 'values' of the 'original' FN; a traditional heavy focus on immigration and security, while edging closer to the original 1980s right-wing views on economics; may define as openly right-wing or represent the dogmatic/ideological far-right faction of the FN electorate in the south).

Also Panzermiss is pregnant apparently, so we'll soon have a Panzertoddler/lilpanzer

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Are you sure she's pregnant Hashemite? I haven't found any article speaking about that.

http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2014/04/30/marion-marechal-le-pen-enceinte-plainte-minute_n_5237593.html

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Wasn't Minute a far-right newspaper, at a point? Or it's another battle in the FN war between the old guard and the young newcomers?

Minute has indeed been a far-right/fascist paper, and it is now to the right of the FN - an openly racist and fascist rag (it supported Gollnisch in 2011), which Panzergirl hates. For example, during the gay marriage fockfest, it claimed that there was a 'gay lobby' in the FN.

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In French news:

-The Radical Party elected Laurent Hénart, the new mayor of Nancy, as their president replacing Borloo. He defeated Rama Yade by a significant margin, but Yade is pissed because her side reports (via Le Canard) some fairly iffy things regarding member registrations exploding in very sketchy circumstances.

-The UDI is electing a president as well (to replace Borloo) in the fall: so far, the candidates are Jean-Christophe Fromantin (locally popular député-maire of Neuilly, head of the tiny personalist shell 'Territoires en mouvement', on the 'right' of the UDI and hates the gays), a tandem of Yves Jégo and Chantal Jouanno (two former Fillon-era UMP cabinet ministers who left for the Radical Party after being fired, both were in the minority of UDI members who voted for gay marriage) and Hervé Morin (leader of the NC, deputy for the Eure and former defense minister under Sarko; a stale and incompetent old party hack who has never done anything relevant ever). Jean-Christophe Lagarde, the leader of another UDI component (FED, which was founded by Lagarde & friends' gang of anti-Morin ex-NC members) and député-maire of Bobigny (93) may also run.

-Two candidates already declared for the UMP presidency: Bruno Le Maire (former agriculture minister, historically villepiniste, a fairly good and seemingly intelligent/competent young-ish moderate type who also really wants to be President some day; neutral in 2012) and Hervé Mariton (deputy of the Drome, former liberal-villepiniste - odd combo - who also was pro-Iraq in 2003, who most recently led the UMP's valiant charge to keep the gays from marrying; soft-copéiste in 2012, seems to be a useless fool). On an unrelated matter, Christian Estrosi, a longtime sarkozyste-turned-senior filloniste in 2012 who has since left Fillon’s clan, is now officially a candidate for 2017. Estrosi is the mayor of Nice and the UMP boss of the Alpes-Maritimes, he's also pond scum (wrote an instruction book for mayors on how to best beat up your local Roma) and a complete moron.

-Manuel Valls is on some PR op pretending to be a left-winger (by repeating Blum and Jaurès' name as many times as possible).

-My UMP deputy, Fredo (a total dolt) apparently wrote a book called 'Vous êtes prioritaires' ('you have priority'). The guy's idiocy is always stunning.

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How horrible. The little amount of debate - and the debate which did take place was total horsecrap - on this issue (which is important) is totally and utterly depressing. Nobody even questioned the rationale of this project or its effects.

The 'Socialist' parliamentarians, except the 27 who abstained and the lone 8 who were sensible enough to vote against, just voted like sheep without questioning anything. Parti de godillots, pays de merde...

On this note, there's absolutely no chance that I'll vote for the "left"/"Socialists" in the runoff in 2017. This pathetic bunch of losers, morons and imbeciles deserve any thumping they receive and it doesn't even matter who gives it to them at this point. I definitely regret voting for Flanby in 2012.

Breizh Dieub.

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How horrible. The little amount of debate - and the debate which did take place was total horsecrap - on this issue (which is important) is totally and utterly depressing. Nobody even questioned the rationale of this project or its effects.

The 'Socialist' parliamentarians, except the 27 who abstained and the lone 8 who were sensible enough to vote against, just voted like sheep without questioning anything. Parti de godillots, pays de merde...

On this note, there's absolutely no chance that I'll vote for the "left"/"Socialists" in the runoff in 2017. This pathetic bunch of losers, morons and imbeciles deserve any thumping they receive and it doesn't even matter who gives it to them at this point. I definitely regret voting for Flanby in 2012.

Breizh Dieub.

Even if Front National reach the next round?

Well, if it happens (and it very well might), it would still be extremely (extremely) unlikely that Panzergirl would win so my one vote wouldn't make a huge difference. I would probably hold my nose and vote for whoever is up against her if it looks close, or more likely cast an invalid vote.

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Our UMP MEPs are already hard at work, tackling the real issues which matter. Today's issue: the Muslim women at the beach wearing veils (Nadine Morano leading the charge, shockingly).

https://twitter.com/nadine__morano/status/501282813589860352/photo/1
http://women.mg.co.za/row-over-french-meps-veil-comments/

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Yeah, it's the usual protocol of the PM 'resigning' and getting appointed again immediately, so that he can execute a few rebels and idiots. The good news, I guess, is that Montebourg is a goner. The bad news is that Filippetti, one of the few competent and ostensibly honest ministers, is also out. The other bad news is that this means full steam ahead for this horrendous crypto-rightist government.

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Montebourg has announced that he's out. I didn't listen to him, but it appears he went out with a bang and in his usual holier-than-thou arrogant douchebag manner:

"Je vais prendre exemple sur Cincinnatus qui préféra quitter le pouvoir pour retourner à ses champs et à ses charrues. Je vais retourner travailler avec les Français. Vive le redressement productif, vive la République et vive la France".

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Details of the poll from Ifop:

Panzergirl 28%
Poison Dwarf 25%
Flanby 16%
Bayrou 12%
Mélenchon 10%
NDA 4%
Duflot 3%
Arthaud+Poutou 2%

Panzergirl 30%
Juppé 24%
Flanby 16%
Bayrou 11%
Mélenchon 10%
NDA 4%
Duflot 3%
Arthaud+Poutou 2%

Panzergirl 32%
Fillon 17%
Flanby 17%
Bayrou 14%
Mélenchon 10%
NDA 5%
Duflot 3%
Arthaud+Poutou 2%

Runoff scenarios:

Fillon/Flanby: 62-38
Juppé/Flanby: 66-34
Poison Dwarf/Flanby: 61-39
Panzergirl/Flanby: 54-46

Fillon/Panzergirl: 57-43
Juppé/Panzergirl: 64-36
Poison Dwarf/Panzergirl: 60-40

Please abolish democracy immediately.

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20 minutes ago, Poison Dwarf announced his candidacy for the presidency of the UMP.

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In other news, Valls had his 'discours de politique générale' and confidence vote on Tuesday.

The same usual crap which we've come to expect from these people, and nobody really seems to care all that much. Re-hashing the stuff about giving free money to employers (Valls' new BFFs), continuing to pretend that what they're doing is not austerity but actually 'reform' (proving it by providing a grocery list of things which aren't being cut), offering a few little goodies (marginally increasing the base pension by 8 euros a month for poor seniors, getting 1 million more poor households out of income taxes in 2015), once again changing his mind on "territorial reform" (departmental elections in March 2015, regional elections in December 2015; and now we're gonna keep some of the 'departmental councils' created and later abolished by Valls in some rural departments because the PRG was being bitchy about that ) and pretending to be left-wing by talking tough against evil Merkel and the Medef.

Anyhow, he passed the confidence vote with 269 votes for, 245 against and 53 abstentions... in details:
SRC: 253 for, 32 abstentions, 4 not voting
UMP: 198 against, 1 not voting
UDI: 27 against, 3 not voting (the 3 French Polynesians)
Ecolo: 1 against (the Nouvelle donne deputy), 17 abstentions
RRDP: 13 for, 1 against (Jérôme Lambert, Mitterrand's grandnephew and PS dissident), 3 abstentions (the MUP deputy; Jacques Krabal, PRG deputy from the Aisne; Thierry Robert, MoDem deputy from La Réunion)
GDR: 11 against, 2 abstentions (Huguette Bello, the former Reunionese Communist; Jean-Philippe Nilor, one of the the Martinican nats), 2 for (Bruno Nestor Azérot, Martinican DVG; Gabriel Serville, Guyanese Socialist)
NI: 1 for (Sylvie Andrieux, the expelled PS deputy convicted of embezzlement), 7 against (Jean Lassalle, the FN/Bompard, NDA and 'maybe Hitler didn't kill enough gypsies' Bourdouleix)

32 PS abstentions (including the 3 MRC deputies) - compared to 11 in his first confidence vote in April, 41 on the big austerity/50 billions in cuts package, and 33 in a social security budget. The table tracks the dissidents:

Pouria Amirshahi: Iranian-born aubryiste deputy for North and West Africa
Fanélie Carrey-Conte: young former student activist PS deputy for Paris, close to Hamon
Barbara Romagnan: left-wing PS deputy for the Doubs, close to Hamon (in the past)
Nathalie Chabanne: PS deputy for the Pyrénées-Atlantiques famous for beating Bayrou, close to Hamon
Pascal Cherki: PS deputy for Paris, close to Hamon
Suzanne Tallard: random backbencher PS deputy for Charente-Maritime
Henri Emmanuelli: a famous old-timer on the PS' left, deputy for the Landes since 1978. One time general secretary of the PS in the horrible early 90s and presidential primary candidate in 95, of course.
Jean-Pierre Dufau: PS deputy for the Landes, close to Emmanuelli
Gérard Sebaoun: PS deputy for the Val-d'Oise
Philippe Noguès: aubryiste PS deputy for Morbihan
Christophe Léonard: PS deputy for the Ardennes, close to Hamon
Jean-Pierre Blazy: PS deputy for the Val-d'Oise
Mathieu Hanotin: PS deputy for the 93, close to Hamon
Dominique Chauvel: PS deputy for the Seine-Maritime
Kheira Bouziane: aubryiste PS deputy for the Côte-d'Or
Linda Gourjade: PS deputy for the Tarn, close to Hamon
Hervé Féron: PS deputy for Meurthe-et-Moselle
Denys Robiliard: eurosceptic PS deputy for the Loir-et-Cher
Daniel Goldberg: aubryiste left-wing PS deputy for the 93
Laurent Baumel: aubryiste left-wing PS deputy for Indre-et-Loire
Jean-Marc Germain: aubryiste PS deputy for the 92
Édith Gueugneau: PS deputy for Saône-et-Loire (elected as a dissident with Montebourg's backing against a EELV-PS candidate)
Kléber Mesquida: PS deputy for the Hérault
Christian Paul: veteran left-wing PS deputy for the Nièvre
Serge Bardy: PS deputy for the Maine-et-Loire
Michel Pouzol: PS deputy for the Essonne, close to Hamon
Michel Vergnier: PS deputy for the Creuse, close to Hamon
Anne-Lise Dufour-Tonini: PS deputy for the Nord and mayor the very poor mining basin industrial city of Denain; she replaced Patrick Roy, the very colourful and crowd favourite PS deputy, after his death from cancer in 2011. Her first time voting against the government - it's weird because I associate her with the nobody trying to suck up to Flanby when he visited Denain in late 2013 (a visit only famous for the hilarious 'Flanby looking like a moronic Mr. Bean' photo)
François Lamy: PS deputy for the Essonne and former junior minister for the city under Ayrault. Aubryiste. First time voting against the government; his suppléant while he was minister was the very left-wing Jérôme Guedj, a top dissident since 2012.

Amusing to see Razzy Hammadi's transformation from leftie rebel to career politician wannabe. I wonder if his shift into becoming a good boy is related to his hilarious (probably career-ending) embarrassment in Montreuil in March.

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Something must be going wrong when Manuel Valls is taking the lead, don't you think?

Well, Valls remains popular with about 60-65% of PS sympathizers and he knows how to play up his fake left-wing credentials once in a while by vaguely saying something about Germany or appearing to be 'tough' on employers (when in reality he's in a collective circlejerk with them). At the same time, the good news is that Valls' popularity is crumbling quickly and it's only a matter of time, I think, before he becomes damaged goods

In that poll, btw, Valls is down 2% with PS sympathizers from May and Aubry is up 9 (Flanby is down 7 and Ségo is down 5). A recent Ifop poll asking the same question had Valls up 10 on Aubry with the whole sample (Flanby at 7%), but trailing Aubry by 12 with left-wingers and by 5 with PS sympathizers. Valls retains about 40-50% popularity with UDI people and 30-35% with UMP people (which is still very high for a PS politician).

FTR - it's not a primary poll, but asking people which candidate would be the best. Very similar, but not the same thing.

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The glorious right-wing economy minister wants to gut unemployment insurance (this is the same rich moron who said that workers in some plant were 'illiterates'): http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2014/10/12/macron-relance-le-debat-de-la-reforme-de-l-assurance-chomage_4504807_823448.html

Can this government be any more of a joke?

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The glorious right-wing economy minister wants to gut unemployment insurance (this is the same rich moron who said that workers in some plant were 'illiterates'): http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2014/10/12/macron-relance-le-debat-de-la-reforme-de-l-assurance-chomage_4504807_823448.html

Can this government be any more of a joke?

A shame the "frondeurs" just abstained

Well, if they had voted against and the clown show had lost, then we would be having snap elections which would inevitably result in a cohabitation with the other clown show, the UMP.

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New Ifop poll for 2017:

Panzergirl (FN) 29%
Poison Dwarf (UMP) 26%
Flanby (PS) 14%
Bayrou (MoDem) 13%
Mélenchon (FG) 9%
Duflot (EELV) 3%
NDA (DLR) 3%
Arthaud (LO) 1.5%
Poutou (NPA) 1.5%

Panzergirl (FN) 30%
Juppé (UMP) 28%
Flanby (PS) 13%
Bayrou (MoDem) 10%
Mélenchon (FG) 9%
NDA (DLR) 4%
Duflot (EELV) 3%
Arthaud (LO) 1.5%
Poutou (NPA) 1.5%

Panzergirl (FN) 32%
Juppé (UMP) 32%
Flanby (PS) 15%
Mélenchon (FG) 10%
NDA (DLR) 4%
Duflot (EELV) 4%
Arthaud (LO) 1.5%
Poutou (NPA) 1.5%

Panzergirl (FN) 31%
Fillon (UMP) 18%
Bayrou (MoDem) 16%
Flanby (PS) 14%
Mélenchon (FG) 9%
NDA (DLR) 5%
Duflot (EELV) 4%
Arthaud (LO) 1.5%
Poutou (NPA) 1.5%

Panzergirl (FN) 29%
Poison Dwarf (UMP) 26%
Flanby (PS) 15%
Bayrou (MoDem) 14%
Mélenchon (FG) 9%
NDA (DLR) 4%
Arthaud (LO) 1.5%
Poutou (NPA) 1.5%

Panzergirl (FN) 27%
Poison Dwarf (UMP) 27%
Aubry (PS) 14%
Bayrou (MoDem) 14%
Mélenchon (FG) 9%
NDA (DLR) 3.5%
Duflot (EELV) 3%
Arthaud (LO) 2%
Poutou (NPA) 1.5%

Juppé (UMP) 30%
Panzergirl (FN) 29%
Aubry (PS) 13%
Bayrou (MoDem) 10%
Mélenchon (FG) 9%
NDA (DLR) 4%
Duflot (EELV) 2%
Arthaud (LO) 1.5%
Poutou (NPA) 1.5%

Panzergirl (FN) 27%
Poison Dwarf (UMP) 27%
Oberst-Gruppenführer Valls (PS) 15%
Bayrou (MoDem) 13%
Mélenchon (FG) 8.5%
NDA (DLR) 3%
Duflot (EELV) 3%
Arthaud (LO) 2%
Poutou (NPA) 1.5%

RIP France.

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I'm mainly waiting for the inevitable Podemos/Syriza style consumption of both PS and FdG. Something's got to give at this point, right?

Sorry, but:

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Of course it didn't. Remember that this lousy government's 'political reform' includes reducing the number of regions because REFORM, a late ban on dual office holding which will only come into effect after 2017 and the re-creation of 'departmental councils' to be elected using a silly system (the whole shenanigans with these departmental/general councils have become a total joke, btw). We should all know better than to expect any substantial and good political reform from any French government.

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I just read that in his last press conference President Hollande said he is thinking about electoral reform, including some proportional representation, referring to I assume National Assembly elections.  Would love to see this go through.  Would the current parliament go for this?

I'm not sure where you read this, because it isn't true. On the contrary, Flanby said that the 'democratic crisis' cannot be fixed simply by changing the electoral system (and then went on about 'simplifying the legislative procedure', which has been interpreted as officially burying an idea which the government obviously never had any real intention of doing anything with. Until now Flanby and his tools had pretended to keep the idea alive, so that the Greens would not go wild, but now that EELV is basically imploding on its own and that it serves even less of a purpose to the government, I guess he can finally bury the silliness.

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Well, one FN supporter said something strange and stupid. Wooptydoo.

Not so quick. The charming person who said this is Nadine Morano, a 'Républicains' MEP, former junior minister under Sarkozy's presidency and a former deputy in the National Assembly; a fairly prominent political figure. Granted, Morano is obviously retarded and one of the most stupid politicians in French history, but it doesn't change the fact that she is a racist sh**t or that this is but the latest in a never-ending avalanche of crass racism from prominent figures of the so-called 'Républicains'.

God help us all when (if?) this bunch of corrupt, incompetent racist buffoons return to power.

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Meanwhile, EELV's collapse continues. Yesterday, Barbara Pompili, the co-president of the greenie group in the National Assembly, left EELV. She is the latest in a series of high-profile exits from the party - François de Rugy (the other co-president) left in August and Jean-Vincent Placé, the loudmouth and unpleasant president of the Senate group left in August as well. The reason is the party leadership's (Emmanuelle Cosse/Cécile Duflot etc.) strategy to ally with the anti-government left (the FG, or more accurately the PG part of that likewise moribund shell), starting with the regional elections in December. Pompili, Placé and de Rugy were all from EELV's pro-government wing. Placé and de Rugy have founded a new party (because of course they have), which is called Écologistes !, basically 'centre-left' and pro-government. Pompili said she 'sympathizes' with them, but doesn't want to join, since she says her priority is defeating Panzergirl in the regionals (she is deputy for the Somme, now part of Marineland).

Prior to these departures, two other pro-government deputies had also left the party: Christophe Cavard in June and François Michel-Lambert (who joined the 'Front démocrate', a party founded last year by Jean-Luc Bennahmias, ex-MoDem Flanby supporter). According to Le Monde, 4 pro-government deputies and 4 pro-government senators remain in EELV, including Éric Alauzet, the deputy with the most consistently pro-government voting record in the Assembly. It is likely that at least a few of these people will leave the party, perhaps after the regionals.

Wikipedia tells me that Écologistes !, Bennahmias' party and Génération écologie (which still exists, somehow) will create some kind of confederation called Union des démocrates et écologistes later this month. I suppose it will be just as relevant and independent of the government as the PRG.

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The French Greens' ability to self-destruct has always amazed me.

It's amazing, right? They've basically single-handedly fucked up all the chances that voters have given them (and there have been more than a few) to become a consistently strong and relevant party - it's quite a feat. As far as I'm concerned it's something of a pity, because they're the only party which isn't completely awful.

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The French Greens' ability to self-destruct has always amazed me.

It's amazing, right? They've basically single-handedly fucked up all the chances that voters have given them (and there have been more than a few) to become a consistently strong and relevant party - it's quite a feat. As far as I'm concerned it's something of a pity, because they're the only party which isn't completely awful.

Why is there this different to fx nearby German speaking countries on this? It seems the French Greens are the most malfunctioning in Western Europe.

Well, to be completely fair to our greenies, the French electoral system and political culture of the 5th Republic is not very favourable to them. In the French system, the presidential election has become the most important election, and these elections polarize around 3-4 candidates in the first round - usually one from the left, one or two from the right/centre and one from the far-right, so the greens find themselves excluded from the top candidates. A presidential election also requires strong, charismatic and politically savvy candidates - something which the Greens have always lacked, with very few exceptions. In legislative elections, the electoral system (in the runoffs) tends to punish those parties lacking an alliance even if they are quite strong nationally; in 1993, the Greens found themselves in this situation, winning no seats despite winning (together) about 10% of the vote, which was a very strong result - although it's worth pointing out that, compared to the 1992 regionals, the 1993 Green campaign was terrible and a total trainwreck. The 1993 elections pushed most of the Greens to ally with the PS, which served them well in 1997 (and again in 2012), but led to the transformation of the party into one clearly dependent on the PS if they wanted to win anything important. At the same time as these deals are necessary, they reflect quite poorly on the greens, as was seen with the 2011 deal between the PS and EELV, because the greens are incompetent negotiators who can easily be portrayed as selling out to the highest bidder.

They have been successful in some EP elections, like 1999 and of course 2009, but that was due to being led by unusually good candidates and that major parties bleed lots of votes to smaller ideologically-friendly similar parties. 2009, of course, was a perfect storm - a very strong green campaign with some very good candidates (most of whom were not traditional politicians), and the PS being in terrible shape following the sh**tstorm of the previous year. 2009 did give them momentum, which to a lesser extent carried into 2010 and 2011, but the presidential and legislative campaigns completely destroyed that.

That being said, the French Greens have mostly been led by duds and their presidential candidates have mostly been terrible. Antoine Waechter became totally irrelevant after leaving the greens in 1993. Dominique Voynet is an incompetent idiot career politician who would lose an unopposed race for grade 4 student council, and who was a total disaster as mayor of Montreuil. Noël Mamère has more political convictions than most greens (and has indeed left the sinking ship known as EELV) and isn't a career politician but he's a bit of a crank. Cécile Duflot is also an incompetent idiot whose lifelong dream was apparently becoming a stale career politician, and she has played a large part in destroying the Europe-Écologie dream. Nicolas 'la chouette' Hulot would probably have been a fairly decent 2012 candidate for them, but he was seen as impure and I don't really like him much, I think he's a shameless opportunist and attention whore. Eva Joly was clearly the most morally upstanding candidate in 2012, but she is also clearly a very very bad political candidate whose campaign was disastrous. Daniel Cohn-Bendit has long been the only person in the French green movement with an actual vision which didn't involve "let's all become career politicians by whoring ourselves to the PS", but he's always turned out to be exasperated with the incompetence and toxic political culture of the French greens that he's never stuck around. I doubt he has ever really wanted to be their presidential candidate.

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Christiane Taubira resigns. The last minister who wasn't complete sh**t (that bad).