In this extensive work, the author revisits the international political events during François Hollande’s five-year term.
While the analysis is ironic, it is also excessive. Éric Zemmour, with his overly partisan positions, borders on being excessive, making his argument suspect. Too much is too much, and it becomes more of a pamphlet than an analysis of the facts. At times, one seems to hear the old echoes of the nationalism of Barrès or Déroulède.
It is a shame because his analysis is sometimes full of common sense. He wishes to go back, to return to national currencies, seeming to forget that with the franc, we had double-digit inflation and unemployment was rising. It was under Giscard Chirac that our industry collapsed; the Euro had nothing to do with it. He shows us a triumphant Germany, which was already the case before the Euro. The only positive point of his analysis is regarding the urban areas, the suburbs where the State is absent.
Otherwise, this hefty volume will remind us of the events from 2012 to 2017, a five-year term for nothing, and there he is right. A book to read with the perspective of reason, by dismissing populist solutions, it may thus have historical interest for studying this period where Europe solidified, and Russia regained its place in the diplomatic concert with Vladimir Putin.
There are Gaullist echoes in this pamphlet, but is De Gaulle still an example to follow in the 21st century, unless the goal is to play it alone, isolated in our hexagon with the franc to fight and compete with globalization?
Thierry Jan, writer
