2023-10-05 17:51:06
Former French President François Hollande was in Liège this Wednesday followingnoon, invited by the University and the Faculty of Law. 500 students came to listen to him and debate European politics with him. Just before the session, he answered questions from journalists. François Hollande had already come to Liège in 2014. He has fond memories of it.
“It was France that was saluted, honored. Liège is a city where we love France and France loves Liège. The proof is all these French students who come to study here. I absolutely wanted to come back to Liège because here there are socialist friends, and because there is this welcome that we give to French personalities, especially when they have been – somewhat – President of the Republic.
Envious of the power of the PS in Wallonia
“I found it very interesting” comments a student following the question-and-answer session. “The European idea has a future ahead of it. I’m going to buy his book.” “I saw Elio di Rupo a few months ago” smiles a student a little further away “but it’s not as important as François Hollande. Another student enjoyed the moment when François Hollande explained that a union of the left might not be done from the far left, but from the middle of the left, the only possibility of attracting voters from beyond the left and obtain a majority.
In this regard, we asked the former French president if the power of the PS in Wallonia and in particular in Liège made him envious. “Oui !” he answered us without hesitation. “Even when the French PS was in full swing – I was first secretary at that time – I always looked with envy, I dare not say jealousy, at the socialist party in Wallonia [François Hollande prononce “Vallonie” ndlr] and in Liège in particular. He had almost as many members as the PS had for all of France!
What weighs today in France is a socialist party which has become dependent on what we call the rebels. It is as if in Wallonia, the socialist party had followed the labor party [le PTB ndlr]. It is not possible for there to be forms of dialogue, of unity, but dependence.”
During the question-and-answer session with the students, quoting his predecessor François Mitterand, the former French president fired a very sharp arrow aimed at Jean-Luc Mélenchon: “To be loved,” said François Mitterand, “you must first be lovable.”
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