The French PM is resigning.

[Blaze]

The graph I showed in my post accurately represents the cost breakdown of a €250 domestic electricity bill !
If we add the CSPE and the TURPE, that's 16 + 32 = 48% of taxes that were created to finance wind turbines a

Your graph does not show the 20% TVA on electricity consumption by the particulier !

The "block everything" operation had been organized long before Bayrou asked Parliament to kindly fire him!!!
Why would they cancel it? First, past the post...

Yes, but now that Bayrou has gone, what exactly is the manif for ?
Don't you find it sad/pathetic/abhorrent that people have to board up their shops because of the risk of damage and vandalism by the manifestants ? The damage caused by these protesters - who pays for it ?

I'm sorry Biloute, but I will never understand nor condone this need to destroy property, both private and public in the name of freedom of expression. Sure, not all manifestants are vandals (!) but they manifest in the knowledge that destructive elements will jump on the bandwagon. Naturally Melenchon and his band of Trotskyists will be rubbing their hands in glee.

As for referendums, do you really believe this would work in France ? In 2024, the population in Switzerland was about 9 million in 2024 but in France it was 68.5 million.
Which was my point regarding députés : They are voted for by their local public and it is they who should represent the wishes of the people. The problem is that they don't. "The people" should be lobbying their député not going on a destructive rampage - because that is what seems to happens when "the people" want to express themselves.

the 5th Constitution no longer works, and a new one should be created to be able to govern even without an absolute majority.

One of the problems in France (and other countries) is having a President who is political. What is the point of having a parliament supposedly made up of representatives of the people if the President has other ideas ?

[Biloute]

@Blaze:
Look carefully at the right of the graph: the VAT clearly appears (in purple) on the right!
As for the demonstrations, it's not the peaceful protesters who are vandalizing businesses, but the Trotskyist Mélenchonists and the Black Blocs who have come from all over Europe.
So, just because these vandals are going to jump on the bandwagon, everyone should just shut up??? That's not what I call freedom of expression!
Besides, the right to protest is enshrined in our Constitution.
All these violent vandals are known to the police. They could be arrested before they take action and/or severely punished when they demolish. But what they're doing is convenient for the government because their actions discredit the peaceful protesters... We saw it with the Yellow Vests...

[Headers]

I am really appreciative of all your comments.
I don’t find referenda are safe these days because of the uncontrolled use of internet resources by external ‘interests’. People are easily fooled these days it seems to me. There is real lack of critical thinking leading to facile easy sounding promises being believed.
I don’t know what the answer is but I really think that we are coming to a crisis point in the world and we won’t come out of it smelling of roses.

[Blaze]

Look carefully at the right of the graph: the VAT clearly appears (in purple) on the right!

TVA at 12% ???? Not on any bill I've seen !
Look at the attachment of a typical bill (from 2020, not mine) and you will see two amounts of TVA : 5% and 20%

Capture d’écran 2025-09-10 à 07.19.41.png

[Polarengineer]

Very sad to read all this negative and selfish thinking. The EU was established to strengthen European countries by pulling together. It costs effort to help less economic neighbours and in the end pulling together may have kept the wolf at bay (so far) France is not alone in this world and the people of EU lands will be best off with less nationalistic views. Governments should concentrate on educating their populace to better understand the necessity for economic decisions so that any potential referendums are not based on lies.

[MAD87]

Very sad to read all this negative and selfish thinking. The EU was established to strengthen European countries by pulling together. It costs effort to help less economic neighbours and in the end pulling together may have kept the wolf at bay (so far) France is not alone in this world and the people of EU lands will be best off with less nationalistic views. Governments should concentrate on educating their populace to better understand the necessity for economic decisions so that any potential referendums are not based on lies.

Well said, Polarengineer. Churchill wanted a United States of Europe, which is whet we've got and need. How far could France alone defend us against the likes of Putin? It's always easier in any event to reform from within than without. Yes the EU is too cumbersome and needs plenty of reforms. It also need a majority vote on its decisions.

As for energy costs, France illegally imposes TVA on its taxes! I checked this a few years ago with the EU and they confirmed the illegality.

I agree that France has a perfectly safe and cheap energy source in nuclear and it needs to be expanded. François Holland Moi Président was the prime idiot in cuttting its growth and maintenace.

[Biloute]

Look carefully at the right of the graph: the VAT clearly appears (in purple) on the right!

TVA at 12% ???? Not on any bill I've seen !
Look at the attachment of a typical bill (from 2020, not mine) and you will see two amounts of TVA : 5% and 20%
Capture d’écran 2025-09-10 à 07.19.41.png

On a bill, some items have a VAT rate of 5.5% and others 20%. So it's not surprising that when you add the two VAT paid at different rates, the total VAT falls somewhere between these two rates.
On your bill, there's €6.77 of VAT at 5.5% and €169.12 of VAT at 20%.
So 6.77 + 169.12 = 175.89 = 18% of the total excluding VAT of €968.76.
From one bill to another, the proportion at 5.5% and 20% can change since 5.5% is the subscription and 20% is the consumption.
My graph with an average of 12% isn't inconsistent: it means that the average person consumes less than you but pays the same subscription...

[Blaze]

Unbelievable .......
The new Prime Minister, Sebastien Lecornu, having just named his new ministers, has handed in his resignation, which has been accepted !!!

https://actu.fr/politique/sebastien-lec ... 58541.html
In English :
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewn9k0w9rxo

[RobertArthur]

Charles de Gaulle: ' Comment voulez-vous gouverner un pays où il existe 258 variétés de fromage ? '

The fifth republic was an answer to end the chaos and almost bankrupcy of the fourth republic, not to forget the Algerian war. And now another crisis, a long read.

[Blaze]

To add to my last, his speech (about 10 minutes long on Youtube) is excellent.
He has tried for some sort of consensus with the other middle parties, but the egos the size of the Eiffel Tower among the left and right, there was no hope of reaching any sort of agreement or compromise.
In other words, the far left and far right don't give a stuff about the country, all they want is to win.
Lecornu says he wants to put the country first.