This new work by Nicolas Baverez testifies both to the folly of a country and to the assets which can help it reinvent itself in the 21st century.
In the last days of a disastrous presidency, France has become the sick man of Europe, which is itself under threat of disintegration because of Brexit.
And yet, the decline and humiliation of France and the French are in no way a foregone conclusion.
They hold major assets at their disposal – talent, intellect, culture and civilisation – and there are well-known cures for the “French sickness”.
The only things missing are the essentials: the will to recover and the path to reform. This is why the choice of a new French President in 2017 is crucial.
These columns, published in the weekly magazine Le Point, and written with the author’s usual lucidity, describe how France could snap out of denial.
Nicolas Baverez was the first who dared to state that France was in decline and here he gives us the keys to recovery and the reasons why it should overcome its fears and believe in its future.
(Albin Michel, 2017)