Chirac/Jospin TV Debate

The debate was moderated. Moderators proposed broad subjects and each candidate was given a fixed amount of time to respond. Candidates who responded too long had time deducted from following response. In practice, the formula was not at all all that formal; with each candidate permitting a reasonable amount of given-and-take 'conversation.'

Emotions were very much under control - if anything it was too polite - again no passion - outside of the gesturing that is a natural part of French conversation; meaning perhaps that there isn't a great difference between the candidates except that one is identified with the right and the other with the left. Just like everyone else who works at keeping France in business, Chirac and Jospin more or less went to the same schools; came from the same neighbourhoods - members in good standing of the French technocracy.

Chirac making a point - Jospin making a point his way

Tomorrow mornings newspapers will give the 'score.' Figaro will nod towards Chirac and Liberation towards Jospin. One will be able to save about 14 francs by waiting for Le Monde's first edition, which comes out in early afternoon - which should provide a non-partisan analysis.

The big joker in the equation, is Jean-Marie Le Pen and the 4,6 million people who voted for him on April 23rd. He has slotted himself onto TV tomorrow night to announce which of the two candidates he will recommend to his followers. What nobody knows, is, just how many hard-core followers does he have and how many of the 4,6 million voters who cast their ballots away on him, did so because it was certain that he would not be a candidate in the run-off round. Just as the French can easily rise in revolt on any pretext and go into the streets to battle the riot police, the CRS, they are perfectly capable of throwing votes away on a neo-nazi as a gesture without dangerous consequences. So, between the two rounds, the talking heads have a lot to talk about: mainly that the total far-right-wing vote was about 20 percent. Which in turn gives Mr Le Pen far more attention than he is worth. The only credit he possibly gets, is that he plays this same game in election after election.

But facts are facts. France is not surrounded by hostile states; the opposite is true. France has no need of a moat around it and that is plain to see. The Joan of Arc idea is certainly romantic - but it was valuable at a time when France was not a single nation, and at the same time it was where it is now geographically - at the center of Europe, the crossroads of all traffic. Might was right and if France's neighbours could take some of it they did. None of France's neighbours wanted a strong France controlling the intersection - it would have been bad for business. France was weak, so its main policy was to cause as much trouble as possible on its neighbour's furthest borders; forcing them to look in the opposite direction of France. Until quite recently, France was still following this general foreign policy. But Hilter's insane ambitions stopped it dead forever. With open borders with all its European neighbours, there is no need to invade France; because France is, effectively, sharing its control of the intersection. Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen knows absolutely nothing about this development, and even if he did know, there is no way he can roll back history.

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Updated 04/95