The 79-year-old former French prime minister Alain Juppé, who was sat on the Constitutional Council since 2019, breaks out of his usual silence to analyze for Le Monde the major upheavals caused by Donald Trump's return to the White House. American democracy, he believes, has slipped into illiberalism and worries about the unprecedented attacks on the rule of law. He warns of a similar temptation in France, where the Constitutional Council's role is regularly challenged on the right and far right – Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, a hardline conservative, has even said that the rule of law is not "sacred." Juppé, a former longtime mayor of Bordeaux who also twice served as foreign minister, calls on Europeans to stand firm on their values.

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