Enrico Letta, now the president of the Institut Jacques-Delors, was Italy's prime minister from 2013 to 2014 and president of the Diplomatic Forum of the GESDA Foundation (Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator). He was also head of the School of International Affairs at Sciences Po Paris, and in 2024, he presented the report "Much More Than a Market" on the future of the European single market.
It seems obvious to me. It is all linked to the fact that European integration was built on the dual leadership of France and the French language. In recent years, however, both have suffered incredible setbacks. I became passionate about European issues in the 1980s and 1990s, when Jacques Delors, who spoke only French, was president of the Commission. Thirty years later, when it came to producing this report, I worked exclusively in English, and I had to turn the text into a book to make the most important aspects of the work readable for an Italian, Spanish and French-speaking public.
The same applies to political influence. Europe was born on a French footprint – one of its fathers, Jean Monnet, was French. When I moved to France in the 1970s, it was the center of Europe, and it was through French that we could enter the world. This balance has changed with enlargement, and the entry into the Union of countries that are all, with the exception of Romania, English- or German-speaking. Then there is the weight of social media, with American Big Tech crushing everything... As a result, French has become a secondary language. I'm part of the last generation whose elites began their education in French. Today, Italy's young elites are English-speaking. And I could say the same about Spain.
I believe that this upheaval has had an extremely profound effect on the consciousness of the French, who find themselves plunged into a position of unprecedented marginality in the face of the new centralities that the English language and Germany have become. In my view, it is a huge mistake to think that the French crisis depends on the latest political election or on Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. These are merely epiphenomena of a country suffering from a kind of downgrade.
He was absolutely right! Due to wanting to be considered a great power at all costs, without having the means to do so, we automatically become a "bonsai power," with the obvious limits of the exercise: We do everything but in small doses, and nothing is effective anymore. The point is not to wallow in pessimism, but rather to recognize things for what they are. Because beyond this difficult observation, there are many things that make France unique and indispensable.
Europe could be a lifeline if we are willing to consider that Europe is not France in a big way. And it is true that the French elites find it hard to take the plunge. It is easier for us Italians, who have a different kind of state structure.
When I was here in Paris, I heard too many times: "If you go to Brussels, your career is over." With this system, which has been changing for several years, notably under the influence of Emmanuel Macron, the French have left a lot of room for the German bureaucracy, which has had success in Brussels. Historically, there have been a great many Germans as commissioners' chiefs of staff, and I don't remember many French people.
It is true that in France, the approach is rather to consider that once the project is presented (ideally in three parts), 90% of the work is done. Elsewhere, at the design stage, we identify one or two important points, the objective to be achieved, then we discuss and build consensus. And the beauty of the project does not matter.
In reality, the events of the last few months have not changed much, even if they have heightened public awareness. But we should not overdramatize either. When Macron delivered his Sorbonne speech in 2017, he was listened to and things happened. The European universities project – from my point of view, a brilliant idea – he made it happen. And I know something about it because I took part in it in my capacity as director of the International School of Sciences Po, which I then held in Paris, by setting up Civica with eight European universities which became a network.
The same could be said of Macron's idea of a European Political Community, which meets once every six months and brings together 40 European countries. This kind of initiative is typically French. In short, the role of France exists, the way to exert influence exists, but it is a question of realizing the first part of what we said to ourselves: thinking of ourselves as a "bonsai power" is a dead end. It leads nowhere.
There are an enormous number of subjects on which France has a great deal of strength and substance. For example, it was from France, by far, that I received the most suggestions, ideas, happiness and debates in the year I spent preparing my report on the future of the internal market. I have had nothing like it anywhere else, not even in Spain, Italy or Germany.
In every country, the political crisis raises questions about institutions. In France, in terms of institutions, I see two issues: the geography of an over-centralized country – "France d'en bas" ("lower France") protests against the capital in a way that is greater than in other countries – and the question of relations between the Elysée, the cabinet and Parliament.
I think that France is paying for a major error of perspective made some 20 years ago: the switch from the seven-year to the five-year presidential term. It seemed like a cosmetic reform, but in reality, it changed the whole balance. In the new system, the head of state is perpetually forced to behave like the leader of the majority. Which is untenable.
There is one oddity that frankly seems to me to be a limit: the majority system, because of its extreme nature, has for 20 years been a priceless gift to the Front National by excluding it from parliamentary representation, allowing a party making almost 20% not to have a single representative in the Assemblée Nationale. So, when France went through the financial crisis, Marine Le Pen was not represented in the Assemblée, which was the ideal situation for her. She was then given the gift of such an easy speech...
At the time of the Yellow Vests crisis, several foreign observers noted that the violence of this crisis could be linked to the fact that the extremes had no place in the French Parliament. In Italy, the same kind of popular anger produced the 5-Star Movement... and not just them. The Italian Parliament has always been a place where the extremes were represented, which took away the privilege of disempowerment from these political forces. Outside Parliament, it is easy to limit oneself to criticism. And that, historically, has always been Le Pen's strength.
I only met Le Pen once on a television set during the 2022 presidential campaign. I was given 20 minutes with her to talk about Europe, and I took the opportunity to study her speech, which consisted of saying nothing about the substance of things, and in which she simply said: "Me, I've been prevented from being represented, and you're calling me to account..." With that, you can say literally anything.
No doubt in part, but we cannot underestimate the fact that the problem is directly linked to the five-year term. The presidential election is approaching, and as it is the key election, nobody wants to take on responsibilities that would prevent them from playing the game next time. If Macron was elected for seven years, he could stay until 2029 and that would change everything.
When I try to make comparisons, the first thing I notice about France is that the idea persists that there is a moment when the aesthetics of power automatically change into substance. In Italy, since Tangentopoli (Operation Clean Hands) in the early 1990s, we have seen that the aesthetics of power are not automatically transmitted. Sometimes, a minister counts for nothing. The fact of being a minister, of having been a minister, in itself is nothing.
In France, this discrepancy is not perceived. Yet it does exist. When four heads of government succeed one another in the space of a year, it means that the form of power no longer has anything to do with the substance. In Italy, ministers under indictment and politicians in handcuffs have changed everything.
One thing really struck me when I arrived in Paris in 2015. The number of police sirens that accompany politicians as they cross the city. In Italy, we have learned to make this a little less visible over the last 30 years because it is one of the things that annoys people the most. When I started in politics in the 1980s, there was a kind of mythical aspect to these symbols. The unescorted politician did not count for anything, nobody gave him credit. Today, we live in a world where we have to be more Scandinavian: The prime minister has to ride a bicycle. This is not a way of making power any less legitimate. It is legitimate for its substance, for what you do with it, not for the number of sirens that accompany you. Power is now seen as an exercise in service, not privilege.
Let me give you another example. In March 2013, when I was appointed prime minister, I was just a lawmaker, I did not have an official car. When President Giorgio Napolitano summoned me – and this was unexpected – I took my car, in the back of which were the seats of my children, who were still small, and I drove to the Quirinal, the presidential palace in Rome. When I got out, with the journalists chasing me, I was in charge of forming the government. It was probably the first time in Italian history that a president of the Council was seen entering – or leaving – the Quirinal in his car... Honestly, it was not calculated, but these images were much commented on, and it seems that they gave me a considerable boost in the polls.
Yes, no doubt, but you also have to bear in mind that we had just come out of the legislature during which we faced the most difficult phase of the financial crisis, which is the real difference between France and Italy. In France, you have not experienced the moment when you are afraid you will not be able to withdraw money from an ATM. The Greeks have experienced this; they have really been through the trauma. But in Italy and Spain, this fear has existed, and it has profoundly changed people's perception of things.
Yes, I believe that in France the risk is ahead of us. Because this situation, in which the country is divided into three blocs within which some people do not talk to each other, is a huge factor of uncertainty. Marine Le Pen will probably never be elected president, unless she faces Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the second round. Now, that is a real possibility... this system, where everything comes down to two people in a second round, is very perilous. And that is the major risk for France over the next three years.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.