Scandals in France: Hollande Removing Macron's Opponents

Never before has the justice system in France been so prompt. Its current speed can only be compared to that of the French guillotine during the bloody French revolution. Of course, it's not bloodshed in the literal sense this time, but with the presidential election around the corner, undesirable political opponents are being disposed of extremely fast. This is the main function of the entire administrative apparatus which is controlled exclusively by the outgoing President Hollande. For example, the unquestionable front-runner of the first round of the presidential election, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, was summoned to court last Friday to be questioned and presented with charges. The case is built on an old story of Le Pen allegedly faking the hiring of assistants as per the rights of every EU Parliament member. Never before in France could such a story have ended in a court hearing, let alone such an expedited, urgent one. But at the moment, this is a great chance to get rid of the most powerful political opponent. And to be on the safe side, the police arrested the head of Le Pen's cabinet, Catherine Griset, as well as her bodyguard, Thierry Légier. Earlier, the same technique was used to down another high-flying political pilot — François Fillon. Only a month ago he was a sure winner of the upcoming presidential election. And now he's facing criminal charges for allegedly giving a fake job to his wife. On top of that, the media is spreading the rumor that his wife Penelope was already arrested. When the rumor proved to be false, a shower of questions and comments ensued, like "Why wasn't she arrested?", "There's something fishy going on." "Wasn't there a search in their apartment?" "We can only wonder as to what was found there". But in any case, both of them were subpoenaed to a court hearing which will take place on the 15th and 18th of March. It seems that the political ground is being blatantly cleared to make room for Emmanuel Macron. He is a political project of François Hollande. Hollande turned out to be probably the weakest and most vapid president in the history of France, but as a functionary ensuring he has a successor, Hollande is brilliant. And unscrupulous on the same scale. Although, as it has become customary in Europe these days, he puts up a facade of integrity. Actually, French politics started to degrade well before Hollande. The breaking point seems to have been pushed by Sarkozy. He was the first one to start using courts as a means of settling political scores. His victims included Jacques Chirac and Dominique de Villepin. Later, as is continuously repeated, after Sarkozy's nod at the Americans, a lawsuit ruined the promising career of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who everyone believed to be a future president of France. The legal battle with the African-American maid, whom he allegedly assaulted in New York while being overcome with desire, was ultimately won by Strauss-Kahn, but time passed, and with it sailed away the presidential chair. The victory was taken by the US candidate François Hollande. Something like this is taking place again, and France itself seems to hit a new low every time. Gone are the times of General de Gaulle in the Élysée Palace when France was defining the political trends of continental Europe. A country which has a seat on the UN Security Council, and which embodies the greatness of the European spirit, with its autonomy from NATO and independent military power backed by nuclear weapons. A country which has a special relationship with Moscow, and that's increasing its distance from the US while building a relationship with Germany. While Germany might be a bit stronger, economy-wise, France enjoys better moral and political leadership. All of that is now in the past. And that's not to mention the waning interest in preserving French culture. Emmanuel Macron now goes as far as to say that, apparently, there's no such thing as French culture anymore. In has been replaced with the culture of France, the culture in its current form, which is a complex and unrecognizable cocktail of 8 million French Muslims, migrants and a claim to universal tolerance. Here Emmanuel Macron gets hit by an egg thrown at him from the crowd. That happened on Wednesday. In Paris. An example of the local political prose. France is not what it used to be.