Not shameful to be French. Certainly not. What is shameful is watching what we are doing to a country that had everything it needed to succeed: history, culture, a brilliant young generation, infrastructure, a welfare system, creativity, freedom of expression, and that strange ability to get back on its feet when everything seems lost.
But today, frankly, France is falling behind.
We have forgotten our students. We ask them to succeed in their studies, prepare the country’s future, be mobile, independent, responsible, efficient and engaged… sometimes with barely a few euros left in their pockets and rents that can make your head spin.
Studying is becoming a luxury. Finding somewhere to live is becoming a competition. Eating properly is becoming a calculation. Taking the train can feel like an investment. Owning a car is expensive, but not owning one can leave you stranded if you live outside a major city. Heating your home, getting insured, travelling, renting, buying: everything now seems to come with another financial blow.
We are told that France offers strong social protection. That is true. What is often left unsaid is that it also taxes heavily, regulates endlessly, and sometimes leaves citizens with the extraordinary impression that they are paying more and more while hospitals are struggling, schools are struggling, the justice system lacks resources, public transport is deteriorating and public services disappear as administrative paperwork keeps multiplying.
We have become a country where simply living
