Stagflation at France’s door as unions defend vanishing social services
Ramin Mazaheri
Press TV, Paris
For the first time since the presidential vote, France’s unions marched nationwide, as the nation’s public services will likely be under major attack for the next five years.
Polls show President Emmanuel Macron will likely have almost as strong a grip over Parliament as in his first term.
Unions repeatedly warned that the coronavirus was being instrumentalised to accelerate the long-standing neoliberal goal of defunding public services. Now they face a re-elected Macron who could be more powerful - and confrontational - than ever.
New data shows the French economy has stagnated to the brink of a recession; inflation in the eurozone just hit its highest annual level since the currency began in 1999. That combination spells “stagflation,” something for which liberal economics has no theoretical remedy, and it comes after a decade of austerity measures which were allegedly supposed to strengthen the eurozone.
Despite the new lows in economic data unions were not able to draw as many to march as in years past. Since the coronavirus restrictions began to be lifted last fall, many have noted that French protests are occurring less often and are smaller in size.
It could be that - after a decade of mostly failed labor efforts - workers simply can’t afford to miss work anymore; or many have given up trying to influence Brussels or the French government; or many French could be too scared to protest, given what happened to the Yellow Vests.
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