On Saturday 28 May, the stage was set for a football match at the Stade de France, just north of Paris. Real Madrid vs. Liverpool. Finals in the Champions League. But in retrospect, the French press talks less about the players’ achievements than about the chaos that took place outside the stadium, in front of the eyes of 400 million TV viewers. Pictures of police spraying fans with tear gas have circulated around the world. The management of the football club Liverpool has demanded an official apology from the French government. The newspaper Le Monde asks in a leadership position whether France is at all ready to host the Olympics in Paris in 2024. And according to the news channel BFMTV, Macron is said to have become furious with his interior minister due to the handling of the case. MONITOR: A group of armed police officers monitor Liverpool fans during the football match. Photo: DYLAN MARTINEZ / Reuters Ticket curl and tear gas Prior to the match, thousands of supporters without a ticket must have sneaked in among Liverpool fans. The crowds grew. The match was postponed for half an hour, while the police and security guards tried to control the situation. Here’s how it went: Home Secretary Gérald Darmanin has blamed the British fans. According to him, there were 30-40,000 Liverpool fans without real tickets outside the stadium. Among the 30 people arrested on the spot, half were British, Darmanin claims. DEFENDING THE POLICE: French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has often been out defending the police against allegations of abuse of power. He says police actions outside the Stade de France saved lives. Photo: Jean-Francois Badias / AP – The fake tickets were part of a massive, industrial and organized fraud, the Minister of the Interior said at a press conference about the case. He also pointed out that it was UEFA that organized the match, and that there was a strike on one of the subway lines that led to the stadium. Macron furious One of the president’s close associates is said to have told the news channel BFM TV that Macron became furious with Darmanin as a result of the statements. – You could say he was furious. The Minister of the Interior was strongly asked to acknowledge the seriousness of the matter and to stop saying that “we are not responsible for anything”, the source says. According to the newspaper Le Canard enchaîné, Macron considered the “scandal” at the Stade de France to be “pathetic”, “embarrassing” and “France unworthy”. FOLLOWS: Raino Malnes is a professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Oslo, and follows French politics closely. Photo: Philippe Bédo’s Ulvin / news Political scientist and France expert Raino Malnes thinks the case puts the government in a bad light. – It is clear that it is a burden. The government took the initiative for the final to take place in Paris, and then they have a certain responsibility for everything going right. For people who are interested in football – and there are many of them – this is a very big issue, he comments. REPRESENTATIVES: President Macron is said to have reprimanded Interior Minister Darmanin for his handling of the Champions League failure. Pictured here together in June 2020. Photo: POOL New / Reuters Bad timing It is bad timing for President Emmanuel Macron that a scandal like the one at the Stade de France is coming now. Sunday 12 June is the first round of parliamentary elections in France. An ambitious Macron promised voters a “total upheaval” when he was elected for the second time in early May. The election is a chance to strengthen the power base. Opinion polls currently give Macron’s recently renamed party, the Renaissance, a small lead. The left is challenging But a historically united left can also make a very good choice. The Communists, the Socialists, and the Green Party have all gathered under the left-wing populist Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s election coalition, New Popular Collection, also known as Nupes (Nouvelle Union Populaire Écologiste et Sociale). NIGHTMARE: Macron’s worst nightmare is that Nupes gets a majority in the National Assembly. Then Jean-Luc Mélenchon, with whom Macron has very little in common, becomes prime minister. Photo: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP If the government does not get a majority in the National Assembly, major plans to raise the retirement age and reform of the public sector may have to be thrown out the window, Malnes points out. And for the left, the Champions League chaos is political gunpowder. – They use the case in a fairly predictable way, by saying that the government is failing and not taking responsibility. And then they point out that next year France will hold the Rugby World Cup and the following year it will be the Olympics in Paris, and question how the government will handle it, Malnes explains. – But I do not think that kind of argument has much to say for the French when they go to the polls. If it has any effect, there will probably be a lower turnout, the political scientist nuances. TWO SPAIN: President Macron with his newly appointed Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne. Borne is the second woman to become prime minister of France. Photo: Julien de Rosa / AP «The chloroform strategy» Many people are wondering where Macron has gone since the presidential election. The otherwise very active 44-year-old has lately been seen mainly during international summits. – He has been very low, and appointed a relatively anonymous prime minister. There is no one in government who represents a visionary policy, and it is difficult to know what they really want to do during this period. He hammers away at one thing, and that is that the alternatives are extreme, says Malnes. The editor of the newspaper Le Nouvel Observator, Serge Raffy, calls it in an editorial the “chloroform strategy”. – Why not lead France under chloroform, leave the country in the hands of the far right and left, and let go of Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon until you get bored, Raffy asks rhetorically. STRUGGLING: French President Emmanuel Macron is struggling with several scandals against his ministers ahead of the June 12 parliamentary elections. Photo: Geert Vanden Wijngaert / AP Minister accused of rape While Macron has remained in the shadows, several of the ministers in his new government have managed to fill the void. Champions League chaos is just one of the problems that have emerged in the period between presidential and parliamentary elections. On May 21, the day after the new government was appointed, two women told the newspaper Mediapart about incidents in 2010 and 2011, when Solidarity Minister Damien Abad allegedly raped them. THE RAPE ACCUSATION: Damien Abad was appointed Minister of Solidarity and the Disabled when Macron presented his new government after the presidential election. Abad will not resign after being charged with rape because he believes he is innocent. Photo: Michel Spingler / AP The leader of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, believes that Prime Minister Borne must dismiss Abad. – One must have respect for women’s stories, he says. Abad denies the allegations. He says he would never have been able to use sexual violence against anyone. Abad is disabled in the legs, and occasionally uses a wheelchair. The court in Paris has so far decided not to open a case against Abad, because the women who made the accusations remain anonymous. PATRIARCAT: A protester holds up a sign that says “Abad – the patriarchy” during a protest against the government in Paris on May 24. Photo: THOMAS COEX / AFP But Abad will not resign as minister. – Should an innocent man have to resign? I do not think so, Abad told reporters when the charges were filed. Raino Malnes also believes the rape allegations may have an effect on the parliamentary elections. – This is another case that could damage the government’s reputation, and it is problematic when the election is approaching. They have probably had a somewhat unfortunate start, the professor sums up.
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Champions League chaos has become a headache for Macron – reprimanded ministers – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
