Politics

Ex-president Hollande: ‘The French have turned their backs on politics’

Paris, Jun 25 (EFE).- The French people have lost hope in politics mainly due to the decomposition of traditional parties, according to former French president Francois Hollande.

“Today, the French have turned their backs on politics, as we can see by the very high levels of electoral abstention. This disenchantment is the result not only of successive alterations, which have not brought all the expected results, but also of a disintegration, a decomposition, of the major democratic forces,” he said.

In a wide-ranging discussion with Efe, Hollande touched on a broad range of subjects including how he sees French people’s relationship with politics today, his main regrets during his mandate and personal experience as president of France.

“On an international level, my biggest regret is not having intervened in Syria in August 2013 after Bashar al-Assad started using chemical weapons. France could not act alone, it is true. I regret that Barack Obama did not support us. It is a regret because if we had attacked the Syrian regime at that time, we would have, without any doubt, prevented the radicalization of the opposition.

“The second regret is that we were too slow in fighting the financial crisis and strengthening the euro zone. It is true that it was a success to have kept Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece in the eurozone, but we could have done it more quickly.”

Hollande’s hectic five-year term in office — from 2012 to 2017 — was marked by the eurozone economic crisis, a surge in migration followed by a wave of terrorist attacks in France.

The former president left the Elysée with very low popularity ratings before handing the stick to current French president Emmanuel Macron, whom he had appointed his Minister of Finance in 2014.

When asked if he had ever shed a tear during his mandate, Hollande said he had cried during the ceremony following the Bataclan attacks, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks that took place in Paris on November 13, 2015, killing 130.

“There is a moment when the tears are stronger than anything else. They just come down,” Hollande admitted.

Regarding the upcoming 2022 presidential elections, Hollande remained discrete and neutral when asked about Macron’s possible candidature.

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