How the French ardour for decline serves the Trumpist narrative | EUROtoday

Ct is a widely known however heady lament, that of decline. In the aftermath of the American intervention in Venezuela and the threats made by the American president, Donald Trump, on the territorial integrity of Greenland, it resonates all through the political area. “France is now on the weak side”says General Pierre de Villiers, Monday January 5 at Figaro. The Europeans? Of the “powerless spectators of the disintegration of any form of rule, and (…) smug defenders of institutions now totally outdated”assures on January 3, on X, Gabriel Attal, secretary normal of the Renaissance occasion. Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe provides to the Figaro : “Europe has become a commentator. »

The observation of decline, if not new, has new resonances. Geopolitics first, because Declinism has become one of the tools used by the United States to weaken Europeans. Electoral then, because the narrative of decline threatens to monopolize the campaign for the 2027 presidential election.

Governmental instability, lack of budget, the declinist discourse benefits from fertile ground in France. Despite its national determinants, it can almost be read like a copy of that of the American president. On December 5, 2025, in its national security strategy, did the Trump administration not castigate the “economic decline” from Europe, “eclipsed by the real and darker prospect of civilizational erasure”citing a jumble of migration insurance policies which are sources of “conflicts” and the “loss of national identities” ?

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