Watch France. Its mood is fractious. President Francois Hollande has the lowest approval rating of any president since the founding of the Fifth Republic 55 years ago.
There is an incipient taxpayer’s revolt. There are 3.3 million people out of work. Growth is anaemic and France’s credit rating has just been downgraded for the second time in two years. In Brussels and Berlin, it is the country which worries officials and politicians more than any other in Europe.
Yesterday President Hollande was booed on the Champs Elysees. The occasion was a solemn event to remember the fallen from World War One. That did not stop cries of “Hollande resign” and “Socialist dictatorship” from a small group of protestors.
The interruptions, which were resented by most in the crowd, reflect a rebellious mood in France. The protests have been widely condemned in France, but a former defence minister under the last President, Nicolas Sarkozy, whilst condemning the protests, added that “the anger of the French people is immense” and saying “there is a pre-insurrectional mood in the country”.
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