Nearly sixty per cent of people in France believe that the general state of freedom has eroded under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron, a survey has found.
A CSA poll conducted for Le Journal du Dimanche ahead of the upcoming Liberties Summit has found that 57 per cent of the French public think that their freedoms have been weakened over the past eight years. Conversely, just seven per cent claimed that liberties have been strengthened since 2017, when Emmanuel Macron ascended to the Élysée Palace.
Commenting on the results, the paper remarked: “This is no longer a criticism, it is a breakdown of trust. A latent divorce between citizens and a power perceived as incapable of preserving fundamental rights, or worse, which is indifferent to them.”
“The question of freedoms, long confined to the speeches of intellectuals, is now returning to the heart of public debate. But not in the theoretical form given to it by the speakers of yesteryear. It is a worried, almost defensive return, in the face of an accumulation of shocks: health crisis, censorship on social networks, Wokist pressure on expression… So many cracks in the democratic structure,” Le JDD added.
The issue becomes even more stark when examining specific freedoms, with eight in ten saying that at least one of the twelve fundamental liberties listed by the pollsters has been weakened over the past eight years. The paper said the sentiment was expressed throughout “all generations, all social circles, all electorates.”
The top areas of concern were the “pillars of living in a democracy,” with 58 per cent fearing the threat to free speech, 51 per cent over the right to privacy, and 47 per cent about the freedom of the press.
Meanwhile, 44 per cent expressed concerns about religious liberties, 44 per cent about education, 43 per cent about freedom of association, 40 per cent about freedom of movement, and 39 per cent about freedom of conscience.
The survey noted that in addition to crossing age and gender divides, concern over fundamental freedoms also crossed the political spectrum, with both supporters of the leftist LFI (France in Revolt) party (94 per cent) and supporters of the populist National Rally (88 per cent) expressing deep concerns.
Thus, Le Journal du Dimanche surmised the possibility of the “emergence of a new ideological divide” in France. While 76 per cent of respondents said that they wished more political leaders would commit to defending freedom, the paper noted that no political party has seized on the issue as a core plank of its platform, with most focusing on economic or social issues instead.
“For the moment, no party has really seized on this anxiety. But the ground is fertile. And anyone who knows how to pose freedom as a promise rather than a relic could well open a new political chapter,” the paper wrote.
“It comes as much from young people as from older people, from voters on the left and those on the right. A rare consensus, at a time when everything divides. The desire for freedom no longer divides, it unites.”
The survey vindicates warnings from U.S. Vice President JD Vance during his February speech before the Munich Security Conference. In it, he said that the greatest threat to European democracies was “from within” and that by supposedly attempting to shield democracy from so-called disinformation and the rise of opposing ideologies, leaders destroy the very thing they were claiming to protect.
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