Kapil on Identity Checks

An important note by Arun Kapil. Read it.

Reforming the University Reform

Was I wrong? I fairly confidently predicted that the Hollande administration would let stand the changes in French higher ed wrought by the LRU, better known as la Loi Pécresse, which shifted power from the Ministry of Ed to university presidents. Or so it was said. Pécresse's replacement, Geneviève Fioraso, about whom I know nothing, claims that in fact this ostensible transfer of power was "a fake," and that university presidents who tried to act on their own were soon shot down by the ministry.

This wouldn't entirely surprise me. Indeed, this is the historical pattern of decentralization reforms in France. In any case, Fioraso says that the new government will file a bill proposing a new reform. But--and the nuance is worth noting--the new reform will be based on the same principle as the old, that power should be shifted away from the center. But this time, she says, there will by no "hyperpresidentialization" and "more coordination" with faculty, staff, and other interested stakeholders. Could even be true. So was I wrong or right? The principle of the old reform will remain, but the implementation will be different, so I was right. On the other hand, the implementation may be so different that the principle itself is changed. That is the hope of opponents of the LRU. So I was wrong. Or, then again, the new implementation may be thwarted by ministerial reflex, as the old one allegedly was, in which case, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Mélenchon Gets His Wish, Sort Of

During the presidential campaign, Jean-Luc Mélenchon called for the US Sixth Fleet to be withdrawn from the Mediterranean. Now it has been announced that the bulk of the US Navy will be shifted to the Pacific. Probably not exactly what Mélenchon had in mind ... but still a rather ominous development, I think.

Irish Vote Yes

The Irish have approved the budgetary pact:

Les Irlandais ont voté "oui" au référendum sur le pacte budgétaire européen

D'après le résultat définitif du vote organisé jeudi 31 mai, 60,3 % des votants se sont prononcés en faveur du texte qui généralise le principe de "règle d'or" dans les 25 Etats de l'Union signataires.

Rosanvallon-Hollande

I just came upon this interesting dialogue between Pierre Rosanvallon and François Hollande, which took place last year, at the beginning of the primary campaign season. In it, Rosanvallon chides "the Left" for its abstractness:

P.R. Si vous prenez des livres sur la société française qui ont rencontré le succès – Le Quai de Ouistreham de Florence Aubenas ou Les Tribulations d'une caissière d'Anna Sam –, vous voyez la différence. Ces livres sur la précarité résonnent avec le vécu de la société. Si on se contente de dire « il faut lutter contre la précarité et l'exploitation », « développer plus de solidarité », on dit des phrases justes, mais abstraites, à la surface des choses, coupées de l'expérience quotidienne. Il est à mes yeux urgent d'inventer en politique une conceptualisation « sensible » sur laquelle fonder un nouveau langage. D'autant qu'il y a de la concurrence : la phraséologie populiste qui repose sur une conceptualisation simplificatrice et une vision magique de la volonté politique. Elle ne donne consistance au « peuple » qu'en l'opposant par en haut aux élites et par en bas aux immigrés… Le défi pour la gauche dans cette campagne, c'est de trouver un langage où chacun sente que son histoire est prise en charge.

F. H. : Je m'amuse de l'inversion des rôles. Vous êtes le philosophe, je suis le politique, et vous me mettez, à juste titre, en garde contre la conceptualisation et le risque d'une trop grande abstraction des discours politiques. Le danger, en effet, est grand d'oublier de nommer les choses et les gens. Le langage politique cherche, et c'est son honneur, des solutions. Mais il fait comme si les problèmes étaient déconnectés des individus, comme si tout était global et rien n'était personnel, voire charnel, ce qui fait que l'écoute est perdue. La première condition de la crédibilité politique est de partir des situations vécues, de les reconnaître avant même de chercher une issue pour les régler. Il ne s'agit pas de se mettre à la place de chaque individu – la caissière ou l'ouvrier –, mais de parler en leur nom, d'arriver à une proposition politique donnant une perspective à toutes ces expériences singulières.

Draghi Lays It on the Line

Mario Draghi, less reticent than his French predecessor J.-C. Trichet, has blasted the political leadership of the eurozone and put political leaders on notice that things cannot go on as they have for the past two years. The ECB will support solvent banks with liquidity but not insolvent ones. Spain's Bankia is clearly in the line of fire, and Draghi is warning that the next step is up to the politicians.

Bunds with Negative Yields

The flight to safety in Europe has reached such proportions that buyers are taking some German bonds at negative interest rates. Apparently, for some European investors, if they have cash, they'd rather pay to store their money in bunds than to put it in any European bank, whose promises to convert deposits into cash on demand are deemed less credible than Germany's promises to redeem their bonds in five years' time (or else are counting on rising fears to run up the secondary-market price of bunds still further). France has also benefited from the flight to safety (or is it a flight from Germany's negative yields to something slightly less safe but more remunerative?). Despite Sarkozy's warnings that French borrowing costs would rise if Hollande was elected, yields on French bonds have in fact fallen. Compared to the PIGS, France looks solid enough to invest in.

Doomsday chorus!

The doomsday chorus is getting louder. Read Martin Wolf and Joschka Fischer (h/t Bernard). Both blame Germany. The diversity of German views is actually wider than one might think, but expression of them is blocked by the apparent consensus within the current government and with the Bundesbank and ECB. Will this consensus crack if Spanish banks fail? Perhaps, but it may be too late to do anything useful in response.

EC Warns France

With Spain on the brink of banking collapse, the European Commission's warning to France will not get much attention. How many battalions has the EC anyway? Still, it would be wrong to dismiss the EC's concerns as merely another expression of "neoliberal" orthodoxy. French wages have been rising faster than productivity. French global market share has been falling. French industrial competitiveness has suffered. French social spending remains extremely high. And after five years of Sarkozy's "battle against all conservatisms," the French labor market remains much as it was under Chirac. With high and rising youth unemployment, one does indeed have to think twice about raising the minimum wage. With a budget deficit still too high, one does have to think twice about pushing the early retirement age back to 60 for hundreds of thousands of people.

Not that the Socialist government was unaware of these dilemmas before receiving the EC report. And not that being told to do these things by the largely discredited and disrespected EC is very useful in actually getting them done. But Hollande has been very reticent in explaining exactly where he would like the French economy to go. In his appearance last night on France2, he repeated the themes of his campaign but added no strategic direction. He was at pains to emphasize his "normality" by pointing out that he came to the studio rather than having the TV cameras come to the Elysée, but of course this was anything but "normal" for a president. What he really meant was that he intends to maintain his "simplicity," to govern as he led the party and ran for office, without giving himself airs. He is now president, however, even without the monarchical trappings. That makes him responsible. He may prefer to "lead from behind," but he still has to lead. As refreshing as the change of style is, he must take care, lest "simplicity" turn into emptiness.

Hollande Expels the Syrian Ambassador

François Hollande annonce l'expulsion de l'ambassadrice de Syrie en France

La France a décidé d'expulser l'ambassadrice de Syrie à Paris, Lamia Chakkour, a annoncé mardi 29 mai François Hollande, lors d'un point presse à l'Elysée. Le président français a également déclaré que le "groupe des amis du peuple syrien" se réunirait à Paris début juillet.

Pressure for international action in Syria is building. France has taken the lead.