Ségolène Royal has made a few missteps since launching her bid for the Presidency of France. Her latest was the other day when she
all but declared her support for Quebec's independence. Needless to say, the
Canadian government is not impressed. Yesterday, Royal was
trying to damp down the fire she'd started.
"What I said, and I am confirming, is that, as in any democracy, people who vote are sovereign and free," Royal, the Socialist candidate in this spring's election, said yesterday about the latest stumble in her trouble-prone campaign. "And so Quebecers will freely decide their destiny when they're asked. It's not for France to impose on Quebecers or on Canadians what they must do, but on the other hand the principles of sovereignty and liberty strike me as completely indisputable."
I really liked
this editorial from the
Montreal Gazette, which dismisses Royal as "unsophisticated" (Is there any greater insult to someone from France?) and then points out the flaw in her clarifying remarks.
Royal, the Socialist candidate for the presidency of France, had a 15-minute courtesy meeting with Parti Quebecois leader Boisclair. Afterwards, asked for her thoughts on Quebec sovereignty, she gave an answer that suggested she had never before devoted two seconds to the issue: Her thoughts, she said, were "in accordance with our shared values, that is to say the sovereignty and the freedom of Quebec. I think the influence of Quebec and the place it has in the hearts of the French point in that direction."
How laughably unsophisticated. The late president Francois Mitterrand, mentor to Royal and her politician-husband, Francois Hollande, was consistently noncommittal about Quebec's future, perhaps in part because he was not eager to have foreigners stirring up trouble in Corsica, Brittany, and other regions metaphorically far from Paris.
… By yesterday, Royal and Hollande were back-pedalling hard: Her initial comment signalled neither meddling nor indifference, she claimed. Quebecers would decide their future, but the principles of sovereignty and liberty are incontestable. (Oh yes? Then as president, would she amend Article 1 of the French constitution, where it says "La France est une Republique indivisible"?)
It's always nice to see that a Presidential candidate making a mess by speaking without thinking is not a uniquely American quality.
