Journalist, columnist at Le Point, biographer, writer, Franz-Olivier Giesbert was the guest of the program Face aux Territoires, Thursday April 27, on TV5 Monde. He answered questions from journalists from TV5 Monde, Ouest-France and Nice-Matin.
The opportunity to talk about the disputed pension reform, recent interventions by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and his Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. But also to present the second volume of his trilogy “Intimate History of the Fifth Republic”, in which Franz-Olivier Giesbert is interested in the Belle Époque (Ed. Gallimard), these “carefree, bourgeois and revolutionary” 1970s.
Is the Belle Époque over? “Of course not, but you have to take action,” he said. The first one ? “The reduction in public spending, when France is at 58% of public spending in relation to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is not serious,” insisted Franz-Olivier Giesbert. And to cite the example of Charles de Gaulle: “When he came to power in 1958, he implemented a very violent austerity plan. Two years later, the country has returned to 6% growth.” “Growth comes when you manage well,” he said.
He also mentioned the France of the territories, which he adores. “For example, every time I go to Bordeaux, I have to go to the magnificent Saint-André cathedral”, he confides, specifying “I am not a declineist”. Even if he notes and regrets a “general disintegration”, which requires a start.
