“Peace cannot be imposed. It is being built,” said Senator LR from the Côte-d’Or.
Press release from Alain Houpert of December 31, 2024:
2025 is here. The year 2024 will remain as the most politically unstable year since the Second World War and paradoxically the one where democracy was most expressed in its essence, through the choice, by the French, of a plural assembly, made up of strong ideologies, opposed in their concept which has already brought down a first government. This choice was that of the French people, and as such, it remains inalienable.
It is the choice of conciliation, reconciliation, cohesion and confrontation. It is the choice of an assembly reflecting the daily life of every citizen, from their intimate life to their professional life: the need, every day, to negotiate, to exchange, to confront each other to achieve a result. .
And yet, this choice raises questions.
Through this vote, the French expressed their desire to put an end to a two-party system which, for several years, has been corrupting both public debate and making populism the go-to place.
The French demanded, because this is the meaning of national representation, that we make a nation again, within the same unit, by proposing a common future for all, whatever their opinions, their positions.
This choice was made because citizens know that a nation does not survive division.
However, the only response to this choice, more democratic than ever, is failure.
The failure of seven years of an inclusive policy.
The failure of budgetary choices whose insincerity the opposition has continually denounced, supported, and in this the former Minister of the Economy is right, by an assembly which – carried by its claim of amateurism, its will to break up – confused the national assembly with a fan club, setting up its Macronist leader as a hero of the people, from whom, from then on, any criticism was confronted with the vindictiveness of common sense.
Ostracism which, on the international level, has led France to lose more influence in seven years than in the last two centuries.
This choice therefore questions the capacity of certain elected representatives of the national assembly to respond to the popular will and to the very concept of parliamentary democracy who show themselves incapable, preoccupied by their future, their career or their personal interests, of responding to this request. of unity expressed at the ballot box last June.
And each day that passes affects a little more deeply the confidence of citizens that we have in politics.
So, the political opponent that I am could rejoice in the failure of my competitors.
But outside the game, the failure of some does not signify the victory of others and in the current context, any defeat is that of a common future. It is first and foremost that of our country, of its greatness, of its culture of democracy and respect for others. It is the defeat of the future of our youth, forgotten for four years which nevertheless constitutes the basis of the France of tomorrow. It is that of a failing system which today asks yesterday's leaders to resolve the problems they themselves caused.
It is the defeat of reality. Of a system which, in the business world, in the family circle, does not require any debate to see its harmfulness.
So 2025 is here. With its share of challenges to overcome. The budgetary crisis, the result of political choices fueled by fear. The economic crisis, fueled by the political instability which is damaging the growth of our country. The crisis of confidence which fuels what I denounced four years ago as “a cold civil war”. Finally, the political crisis which exposes to the face of the world the distortion of an operation which the French no longer want and to which we, the elected representatives of the nation, must respond, while respecting our ideals and our commitments. .
So I want to believe that 2025 will be a year of reconciliation. This year it is proving vital to the survival of our nation. This reconciliation can only go through listening, understanding, compromise in a plural national representation but more than ever in the image of democratic choice.
The representatives we have elected must prove themselves worthy of democratic choice.
As such, they are obliged to offer a common future to our country.
The future of France is not an option parallel to individual careers.
This reconciliation must also be reflected in international politics.
War cannot constitute an ad vitam threat to the future of our countries, the people of the whole world and our Western democracies.
In Syria, we must respect the courage of the sovereign people, break, after years of accommodation with Bashar El-Assad, with the certainty that our model is the only one that is valid in the eyes of humanity, accept that our political ideals not those of other peoples. Our role today is to focus on respect, without reservation, for Human Rights, the fight against gender segregation in Afghanistan, respect for the integrity of people and popular wishes. Within the hemicycle as on the international ground, peace is not essential. It is being built. So let's build it since this is the will of the people!
Alain HOUPERT
Senator from Côte-d'Or
Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces
