France faces a clear choice: hold state agents accountable or risk worsening chaos, according to Maurice Laouchez, who links violence to organized irresponsibility in public service.
France's state structure criticized
Maurice Laouchez argues that France's current situation is the clearest it has been in 50 years, with organized irresponsibility in the state being a major cause of violence in both Metropolitan France and its overseas territories like Martinique and Guadeloupe.Roots of public sector irresponsibility
Laouchez points out that public agents manage 57% of the country’s gross domestic product, a system he says began with the first status of the public service created in occupied France in 1941 by Marshal Pétain, later modified by the Communist Party’s Secretary-General in 1946. The goal, he says, has always been to control the country for those in power.Expansion of public sector influence
Political families that promoted anarchist slogans like "it is forbidden to forbid" and "under the paving stones, the beach" came to power in 1981. From that year, the public sector’s role expanded significantly, with more nationalizations, a surge in public employees, and the growth of a culture of irresponsibility.Examples of state irresponsibility
Laouchez cites incidents where state agents acted without accountability, such as the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris and the daylight jewelry theft at the Louvre, where the director was promoted to counselor to the President. Senior officials have also made large errors in tax revenue forecasts but are still seen as having done their jobs well.Consequences of administrative pressure
Business leaders, farmers, police, and gendarmes have committed suicide due to administrative constraints, yet no lessons have been learned. While many public agents have prevented France from collapsing, recent events show other forms of violence, less visible but equally condemnable and never addressed.
