Changing the same

AIX-EN PROVENCE, France – We’re in the thick of election fever here, and the watchword for the French elections this year has been “change.” After 12 years of rule by Jacques Chirac, the French want something new, and the candidates’ messages have delivered, each one proclaiming new ideas, new ambitions and a change to a stagnant system. \nSure, there are the requisite fringe candidates from any European election, some of whom veer toward traditionalism. (My favorite? The Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition party. From their presidential candidate: “If I could be reincarnated, it would be as a duck.” Now that’s a party.) Still, all the parties show dissatisfaction with track France is taking these days. Certainly no one, not even Nicolas Sarkozy, from the incumbent president’s own party, offers up any platitudes about the delightful Chirac years.\nSo, let’s take a look at the main players. Ségolène Royal is the Socialist Party candidate and considered by many to be a bit of a policy lightweight. I detailed Sarkozy’s curious political identity in a column last semester, but he’s still the Union for a Popular Movement candidate and a hugely divisive figure in France. The newcomer to the front-runners is François Bayrou, a center-right candidate who calls for a unity government to achieve an end to partisan bickering for a new future. They all have pretty posters, nice slogans and some rather unattainable proposals (eliminating all homelessness comes to mind).\nAlas, while all the rhetoric parades around the idea of change, the fact remains that not one of the candidates has presented the radical transformation necessary to save France’s welfare state and social protections. France’s system of social aid is crumbling, dominating the budget, with increasing payments and diminishing returns. France’s brain drain is growing, and despite all its claims of social protections, the ghettoized suburbs are ignored. Even with such an elephant (or flaming car) in the room, no one seems willing to do more than acknowledge that a problem exists. \nEveryone wants to hear about change, but the change itself elicits reactions ranging from shrugs to violent protest. This paradoxical atmosphere makes it tough for politicians to enact reform. Remember the mass civil disobedience caused by the proposed changes in employment law last year?\nFor all their talk of change, the cautious major candidates have not strongly distinguished themselves from previous regimes (or each other) except through style. All three are EU-backers, support retention of France’s massive public aid, and 35-hour workweek reform, just like the previous administration.\nWith none of these guys providing the real change that the bulk of French people need, it’s no surprise to see the rise of xenophobe Jean-Marie Le Pen and McDonald’s-bulldozer José Bové, signs of frustration with a system that refuses to adapt. Current poll favorite Sarkozy comes closest to a radical shift in France’s stagnant politics, but his reactionary anti-immigrant shtick harkens to France’s darker past. As a friend here told me, “No one expects anything from the elections.” \nFirst round of voting starts April 21, and every candidate promises change for France. \nBut I’m not holding my breath.