France's political elite is dismantling the country - and Putin can be happy

It's almost comical to hear how verbose French political scientists are trying to explain to their German neighbors that the country's uproar over pension reform is understandable, if not justified. It's no longer about longer working lives, but about the arrogant goings-on of an aloof president in his magnificent palace. The German impression is different: President Emmanuel Macron is the gold seal in a thoroughly carious mouth.

France has been living beyond its means for years. Everyone knows it, everyone talks about it, but the majority of the population, rather happily striving towards the creeping decline, would rather indulge their disgust with politics than stabilize the attacked economic system with the help of a few, even uncomfortable, reforms.

At present, hardly more than one in three French people aged 60 to 64 is available for the job market – and that despite the fact that birth rates have recently fallen slightly and life expectancies have increased. Retirement at age 64 would not only increase the employment potential, but also bring in more tax revenue for the highly indebted state. But the President and his Prime Minister can talk and explain, plead and beg, point out the emergency or appeal to reason - it's no use.

One almost gets the impression that France is not (or no longer) capable of reforms. Worse still: France is not crisis-proof. There are also parties for which the gift of compromise is a sign of weakness. The democratic opposition in the National Assembly lacks the feeling that in times of crisis it is fundamentally necessary to form an alliance with like-minded people.

She prefers to bug the extremists from left and right who only want to torpedo parliamentary work. Strikingly, many Greens and Republicans are questioning the president's legitimacy without giving a single thought to the legitimacy of unions that have suffered years of membership dwindling and little else but a rumbling "no" to any reform get in line.

The political elite in France is busy dismantling itself. If things continue like this, it will not only weaken its own country, but Europe as a whole. Vladimir Putin should be happy.