Frexit et après ? Episode 1 avec Pierre Yves Rougeyron

Summary

In this first episode of a planned series on “what comes after Frexit,” Pierre-Yves Rougeyron argues that sovereignty is not merely a tool for achieving policy goals: it is the political capacity to exist, act, and set one’s own agenda. Using scenes from The Godfather Part III and The Dark Knight Rises, he illustrates his view that power is meaningful only when backed by the ability to act. He contends that a country without sovereignty becomes an object within other actors’ plans rather than an active political force.

Rougeyron presents the state as the institution through which a nation organizes its collective survival over time. He links this to shared identity and social relationships, arguing that a purely individual, private existence leaves people cut off from the ties that give life meaning. In his view, France has become “post-political”: it names problems and adversaries but lacks the power to shape events. He argues that restoring sovereignty would itself have consequences, and that this episode’s first question is how political authority could return through the state.

He rejects the idea that the state’s existence alone explains excessive taxation. Instead, he argues that a depoliticized state uses collective resources to manage society without giving citizens meaningful political choices. A sovereign state, in his account, would shift from administrative management to political direction. That would mean reducing unnecessary committees and independent administrative bodies, while restoring functions such as monetary policy, national planning, sovereign ministries, and economic strategy.

He also calls for reform of the civil service. He supports valuing and retaining frontline public servants, while making the senior civil service more accountable to elected political leadership rather than treating it as politically neutral. He proposes changing its training and career structure, including drawing more on university-based expertise.

Economically, Rougeyron advocates a developmental state that uses public-private partnerships and modern financial instruments to build national capacity. He points to Asian economies and the role of the U.S. government as an early customer of Elon Musk’s businesses as examples of state-business cooperation. He argues that the current phase of globalization is ending and that stronger states are re-emerging. France, he says, should use tools such as sovereign wealth funds to protect and develop its economy, rather than leave strategic sectors vulnerable to private investment funds.

The episode sets out a framework rather than a detailed program. Rougeyron says the series will address eight questions and return to issues such as foreign affairs and France’s overseas territories in later installments.

Presenter: Pierre-Yves Rougeyron.