You thought all the troubles are in the UK? Ah non, mon ami. Ach nein, mein Freund

This report has been co-published with our affiliated organisation, Brexit Facts4EU.Org.

Strikes, fuel outages, cancelled flights, food shortages, rampant inflation, shortages of migrant workers, government rows, high unemployment, banking crisis, plunging currency, and more… All in the EU

And yesterday Emmanuel Macron bypassed his parliament and effectively ruled by decree
(Oh, and on top of all this, French-German talks are off, and the Single Market is dead)

As the turmoil in Westminster continues to dominate the headlines hour-by-hour, it’s worth lifting our heads for a moment to see what is happening in our Rejoiners’ beloved European Union.

If readers thought it was only the UK political scene that was in a state of constant upheaval, you might be interested in the continuing chaos afflicting our neighbours and former EU partners across the English Channel.

1. Emperor Emmanuel is forced to bypass his parliament and impose his will

Yesterday President Emmanuel Macron of France finally had to admit defeat. Just six months since his re-election, his government’s proposed budget lay in tatters. Thousands of amendments to it had been tabled in the French parliament, L’Assemblée Nationale, and the government lost all the votes on the early ones considered.

Undaunted, President Macron tore up his election pledge to work inclusively with the parliament and ‘went nucléaire’. He instructed that Clause 49.3 of the French constitution be invoked.

Under this Clause, a law can be passed automatically unless the opposition parties pass a vote of no confidence in the government. With the splits in the French opposition parties this is highly improbable today, as each will not back the others’ motions.

De facto, Macron’s budget will be rammed through the French parliament without a vote, whether the Deputés like it or not.

Image: European Parliament, CC BY 2.0

2. Strong parliamentary protests resulted, but all in vain

Here is President Macron addressing the French people two weeks ago:-

“Citizens, social partners, professionals, elected officials: we all have a voice and ideas to contribute to move our country forward.”

Preseident Macron, 03 Oct 2022

151 NUPES Deputés;, then signed a damning no-confidence motion against Macron’s government, describing his action as:

“an act of anti-democratic brutality”

As stated above, this is not enough French MPs to be able to stop Macron getting his way today.

3. French fuel outages and food shortages

All of the above took place against a backdrop of strikes by French fuel depot drivers. These have resulted in petrol pumps running dry across France.

Remainers are fond of posting photos on social media of temporarily empty shelves in UK supermarkets, as if this is a common occurrence, and blaming Brexit. Below we show photos of French supermarket shelves, empty because of the problems of re-supply, courtesy of Facts4EU.Org’s France correspondent.

4. “The EU – Snapshots of a disintegrating, dysfunctional dream”

The problems in the UK are mostly political. In the EU many of the problems are similar, but there are also problems affecting people’s daily lives, as we have shown above. The problems in the EU are now so legion we have to separate them into separate reports.

Today’s report is confined to France’s political problems, but please see our ‘Observations’ below for how we intend to cover all the EU’s other serious problems, and how these relate to the UK.

For the original version of this article, click here : https://facts4eu.org/news/2022_oct_eu_dictatorship