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French finance minister raises eyebrows with racy new novel

A new novel by France's finance minister, containing one breathlessly erotic passage that has gone viral, has raised eyebrows - and questions about how he finds the time to publish his stream of books.

French finance minister raises eyebrows with racy new novel
French Minister for Economy, Finance, Industry and Digital Security Bruno Le Maire Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP

Fugue americaine (American Fugue) by Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, 54, is no less than the 13th book by the politician who has held his post since Emmanuel Macron came to power in 2017.

Le Maire has been on the front line of defending Macron’s controversial pension reform which has sparked months of sometimes violent protests but the government says is necessary to balance the books.

He also faces to pressure to help the French deal with the rising cost of living due to surges in fuel prices and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But “American Fugue” inhabits a wholly different world.

It is devoted to the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz, through the story of two brothers, Franz and Oskar Wertheimer, who travel to Cuba to attend one of his concerts and whose lives are then turned upside down.

But it is one single page of the novel, widely shared and the target of mockery on social media, that has taken all the attention.

It describes Oskar having sex with a woman named as Julia, described in fairly explicit terms.

For those with a strong stomach, you can find the scene below . . .

MP for the hard-left La France Insoumise party François Ruffin said the minister should not have “a minute, an hour, a week of his time to devote to writing a book” when the French are experiencing “big worries about inflation”.

In an unfortunate coincidence for the minister, the novel was published on Thursday, just hours before credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded the country’s debt worthiness.

It also comes as controversy mounts over the communications of Macron’s government after social economy minister Marlene Schiappa posed for Playboy, albeit clothed.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne took umbrage over the April front cover shoot, calling Schiappa to tell her that it “was not at all appropriate, especially in the current period”.

Le Maire’s colleague Olivier Dussopt admitted he had not read the new novel but defended the minister’s right to write it.

“This shows that there are feelings… behind the suits of the ministers,” he told BFMTV, adding he had seen the erotic passage and it “made him smile”.

Le Maire, who has written five of his 13 books in the last four years alone, said he has no trouble mixing this double literary and political career.

“If there were only politics – without the freedom that literary and romantic creation gives – politics would not be enough,” he said last week in an interview with AFP.

In a statement on Twitter, Le Maire acknowledged that many followers were curious about “how I find the time to write while I am a minister”.

He added that while he was devoted to his job he had also learned to take care of “my personal balance”.

“Some people go to museums, cinemas, concerts, the football. Others do the gardening or go hiking. As for me, I write.”

“It’s a need that makes it worthwhile to get up early, go to bed late and to devote weekends and holidays to this.”

Politics and erotica

Le Maire is far from the only published author in the French government and many past and present ministers have turned their hands to erotic and romantic works.

Former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe co-wrote Dans l’Ombre (In the Shadows) a detective novel crossed with erotica, while Marlene Schiappa – who was a writer and blogger before becoming a politician – has never denied claims made by L’Express newspaper that in the past she authored erotic novels under a pseudonym.
 
French politician and novelist Aurélie Filippetti has also included a very racy scene in a novel and there’s the erotic novel written by former President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 1994, Le Passage (The Passing) which sparked rumours of an affair between the former president and Princess Diana.
 
And then of course there’s Emmanuel Macron’s unpublished novel. The President is believed to have, when very young, written a novel about his budding relationship with Brigitte Trogneux (now Madame Macron) although it’s not clear whether this a romance or something a little smuttier and very few people claim to have actually read it.

One of Le Maire’s previous works also sparked a few smiles, when he described Macron as having “a blue gaze tinted by metallic sparkles, like a lake burdened with sunshine whose surface it would have been impossible, under the scintillating reflections, to pierce.”

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ELECTIONS

Explained: The party manifestos for France’s snap elections

As the formal campaign period begins in France's snap legislative elections, here's a look at the manifestos of the main parties and what they mean for foreigners living here.

Explained: The party manifestos for France's snap elections

Monday marks the start of the official campaign period for France’s snap legislative elections – a brief two-week campaign before the first round of voting on Sunday, June 30th followed by round two a week later on July 7th. 

Here’s a look at the manifestos of the main parties, with a particular emphasis on any immigration policies that would affect the lives of foreigners in France, or those planning to move here some day.

Renaissance

First up is Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party Renaissance – its platform was unveiled by Macron himself in a televised press conference, with a more detailed programme unveiled later by prime minister Gabriel Attal.

The party is at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to the programme, since its main policy goals are already known and it is limited by financial and other factors from announcing any especially bold new goals. The result was that Macron in his launch speech was left to talk about policies that had already been announced or vague goals such as holding a ‘national debate’ on France’s secularism policy.

Macron also framed the election as a ‘battle against extremism’ saying: “I hope that when the time comes, men and women of goodwill who will have been able to say no to the extremes will come together… to build a shared, sincere project that is useful to the country.” 

Programme – Much of the programme will be familiar since Macron was after all re-elected in 2022 and set out his five-year plan at the time. On the economy and the environment, the president said that his party would continue to grow foreign investment in France, cut unemployment and work towards the ‘green reindustrialisation’ of the country – a Macron pet project to create jobs and industry in France by embracing new green technologies such as car batteries.

He also re-committed to France’s domestic nuclear energy programme, and to France’s strong support for Ukraine.

Among the new parts were a ‘great national debate’ on the tricky subject of French state secularism (laïcité) and limits to access to screens for children – as recommended by a commission of experts.

Attal also unveiled some new measures on the key issue of the cost-of-living, with promises to triple the ‘Macron bonus’ paid to some employees from €3,000 a year to €10,000, index-linking pensions to inflation, reducing utility bills by 15 percent next winter and help for parents in buying school supplies.

He also proposes axing the notaire fee (in reality a kind of tax on home purchases) for any property purchased for under €250,000 and setting up an extra renovation fund to give grants to property-owners to repairs and energy works.

Some ongoing Macronist legislation such as changing the law on assisted dying has been interrupted on its journey through parliament, but would likely restart if the party wins a majority.

The party’s programme makes no specific suggestions for changes to the immigration system, but it did just introduce a new immigration law in January that – among other things – introduces a language test requirement for certain types of residency cards and raises the language level required for French citizenship through naturalisation.

Front Populaire

France’s largest leftist political parties have struck an election pact not to stand candidates against each other – in order to avoid dividing the leftist vote.

This means that the hard-left La France Insoumise will field 229 candidates, the centre-left Parti Socialiste will field 175, the Green EELV 92 and the Communists 50. It also means that the parties are presenting a single, joint manifesto under the banner of Nouveau Front Populaire – which has been the subject of much argument and some awkward compromises.

Programme – much of the programme is concerned with cancelling recent Macronist laws. Among the laws it says it will cancel are the new immigration bill – the one that introduces French language tests for certain types of residency card and raises the language level required for French citizenship.

The manifesto also proposes introducing a 10-year carte de séjour residency card ‘as the standard card’ – at present the standard model is for one-year cards initially and then move on to five-year and then 10-year cards, although there are significant variations based on your personal status (eg working, student, retired or family member).

Also set for the chop are Macron’s changes to unemployment benefits plus a cancellation of the price rises in electricity and gas and the reintroduction of the ‘wealth tax’ scrapped by Macron in 2018. Meanwhile the pension age would be dropped down to 60 (cancelling Macron’s law raising it from 62 to 64 and dropping it another two years).

The party would also raise the Smic (minimum wage) to €1,600 a month.

The environment forms a key part of the manifesto with a range of green incentives plus tax and financing rules that would clamp down on fossil fuels.

On foreign policy there are some delicately worded compromises since views on Ukraine and Gaza had previously split the leftist alliance. The group promises to “unfailingly defend the sovereignty and freedom of the Ukrainian people” including by delivering weapons and writing off debt. On Gaza, the party would recognise the Palestinian state and embargo arms supplies to Israel.

Policy towards the EU – a topic that divides the left – is left to one side.

Rassemblement National

The far-right Rassemblement National party will be joined by at least some candidates from the right-wing Les Republicains party, although the internal party divide over that pact will see some LR candidates independently. 

Programme – the party makes immigration one of its key concerns, with a commitment to “drastically reduce legal and illegal immigration and deport foreign criminals” listed as a priority.

The programme opposes both non-economic migration and family reunification – no detail is given on changes to the visa or residency card system in this area, but it seems likely that anyone wanting to move for non-work related reasons (eg retirees) would face restrictions. Likewise spouse visas would be affected by any changes to family reunification rules.

Non-French citizens would only be able to access social benefits such as housing benefits or caring allowances after working in France for five years and there would also be a ‘French first’ preference for access to employment and social housing.

Residency permits would be withdrawn for any non-French citizens who have been unemployed for more than one year.

Asylum claims would exclusively be processed outside France.

When it comes to French citizenship, the party wants to abolish the droit du sol, which gives the right to French citizenship to children born in France to foreign parents and limit access to citizenship for adults “on the basis of merit and assimilation” – it’s not clear how this would differ from the current system where candidates must already prove that they speak French and understand French culture and politics.

The party also has a strong line on law and order – doubling the number of magistrates, increasing fines for certain offences, adding those convicted of street harassment to the sex offenders’ register and creating a “presumption of legitimate defence” for police officers who kill or injure members of the public.

This article is part of a series on election platforms in France, we will look at each party’s economic platform in a separate piece. You can follow all the latest election news in our election section HERE, and you can also sign up here to receive our bi-weekly election breakdown during the campaign period

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