Political polarisation among European societies rises, making it easier for radical leaders to gain popularity and stir public debate to the extremes. France, one of the largest and most important countries in the EU, represents one of the most striking example of this negative trend. Additionally, Russian propaganda and disinformation threats are particularly dangerous for French democracy which currently copies with a serious government crisis.
As part of the Protecting European Values project, co-funded by the European Commission, our team of experts and fellows studied social mood in France. Adam Balcer, Anais Marin and Dimitrios Sotiropoulos visited Paris on September 1-3 and spoke to local journalists, analysts and scholars to deepen their understanding of the French sociopolitical landscape.
Our first interviewer was professor Emmaluel Lazega at Sciences Po Paris who pointed out that political problems in France come from the lack of political and social consensus on key issues. Especially young people are disappointed with the current shape of democracy. Professor Lazega stated that the democratic backsliding results from the belief of degradation of the international position of France and growing poverty in the country. On top of that French people need to face threats connected to disinformation.
According to Hakim El Karoui, Head of the Paris Office of Brunswick, the far right (Le Pen’s Rassemblement national)has already shaped to a large degree the political agenda of the main stream politics in France. The probability of far right gaining power may increase substantially if it cooperates closer with the “traditional” right which has assimilated in recent years a huge part of Le Pen’s agenda. Their alliance in the name of “law and order” will most probably dismantle the rule of law by strengthening decisively the powers of police and security services. The consequences of this policy would be paid mostly by immigrants and citizens of migrant background, particularly originating from Muslim countries and living in suburbs of big cities. Marine Le Pen’s strategy includes also the implementation of welfare chauvinism again targeting especially immigrants.
We also spoke to professor Fabien Jobard and Bénédicte Laumond, researchers from the Sociological Research Centre on Law and Criminal Institutions. They see the major problem of French politics in the rising distrust in state institutions and political parties and involvement of large business in politics. Especially the latter is concerning as many prominent media outlets are run by white conservative Christian males, sympathizing with the far-right. However, our interviewers see some hope because they notice the strong independent justice system, a vibrant civil society in France and social readiness to participate in massive protests.
We were able to reach officials from the Directorate General for International Relations and Strategy of the French Ministry of Defense. We discussed with them a security strategy concerning the protection of the French democracy and society against Russia’s interference. Our interviewer from the Institute of Strategic Research believes there is a hybrid war waged against France. The means of it include disinformation, misinformation and malinformation produced by Russia. To face these challenges France must integrate responses at four levels: actors, practices, models and discourses.
Our next meeting was with a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She argued that the EU member states must strengthen the defence against hybrid and cyber threats by developing cooperation between themselves and state institutions, independent media and civil societies, including fact-checking organizations, such as “De Facto” in France, “Maldita” in Spain and “Nest” in Slovakia.
Our interlocutor from the VIGINUM Association also focused on Russian interference with French society. He underlined that the government’s actions to counter it were insufficient until 2020, when the school teacher Samuel Paty was assassinated by a radical Islamist what provoked a massive disinformation campaign in the social media. Our guest argued that it is vital to monitor very carefully all aspects of Russian interference in French traditional and social media and the state must respond to it in a holistic way by enhancing media literacy in all social groups.
We also managed to reach the journalist, Lisa Vidal, a prominent expert on Russia who claimed that huge sectors of the French society are fascinated by Russia because of deeply rooted historical and cultural reasons. Today, (hidden) friends of Russia can be found in almost all political parties but especially among the far right and the far left. Slogans such as “American hegemony vs. just multilateralism”, “Russia as a defender of conservative, Christian, national and family values”, and so-called “peace now” regarding the war in Ukraine are widely circulated by certain influential political actors in the French public debate, which intentionally or unintentionally serve Russian interests. What is more, the public discourse that would deter these narratives is still insufficient. Mrs Vidal also gave an example of a TV channel CNews, that pursued a far right, if not openly pro-Russian, line in news analysis rather than fact-based news coverage.
Lastly, we reached professor David Colon who argued that France may be considered Europe’s “weak spot” by Russians because of the political and religious culture that favors Russia, chronic political domestic instability of France, also deteriorating quality of the media sector and finally popularity of anti-American attitudes. What is more, the French informational ecosystem is vulnerable because the journalists are insufficiently trained to recognize fake news and target disinformation.
