French protests underscore deep concerns over slow decline amid US, China dominance
The country’s new prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu, is fifth in past two years to grapple with ballooning debt crisis
More than 175,000 protesters hit the streets across France on the day of Lecornu’s inauguration, according to the country’s interior ministry.
Its government collapsed on Monday when its fourth prime minister in two years, Francois Bayrou, lost a parliamentary confidence vote amid widespread opposition to budget cuts designed to rein in Europe’s biggest fiscal deficit.
French government debt stood at around €3.3 trillion (US$3.9 trillion), or 114 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, at the end of the first quarter and has continued to grow, with ratings agencies considering imminent cuts to the country’s sovereign credit rating.
The chaos speaks to a deeper concern among many French people about what they see as their country’s slow decline, which feeds into the country’s rising sense of anxiety at a time of mounting geopolitical tensions and a global economy increasingly dominated by the United States and China.
“Our taxes keep rising but in return we are having worse public services in hospitals, schools, and companies keep closing down factories,” Laurent Joly, a representative of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) trade union organisation, told the Post on Tuesday.