The theft of the crown jewels is another blow to national prestige, but far greater is the threat of a monarchical president hoarding power against voters’ wishes
T
he world is now gripped by the spectacular (and literal daylight) robbery perpetrated on the world’s most famous art museum on Sunday morning. As visitors queued to get in to the Louvre, thieves were escaping out of another wing, after a raid on the crown jewels that took just seven minutes. The story could have been lifted straight from a Hollywood movie or an episode of the French mystery thriller series Lupin.
Yet, although this outrageous theft has stunned France, it was perhaps a fitting act of larceny for a country that has just been the victim of another incredible heist. From one Monday to the next the French people were swindled into thinking we were getting a new government. The political drama left many of us feeling like confused characters in Groundhog Day, but perhaps the closer symbolism is to be found in the surreal theft at the Louvre.
To recap: Sébastien Lecornu, the prime minister, resigned on 6 October, less than a month into his term. Lecornu threw in the towel when it became clear he could not win the support of the national assembly for his budget. His resignation provoked the collapse of the shortest-lived government in the history of the Fifth Republic. Yet, 48 hours after promising that his “mission” as prime minister was “over”, Lecornu was reinstated in an audacious move by the president Emmanuel Macron, who entrusted the now ex-PM with the same mission he had just failed at.
