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Une contribution de Patrick SEVAISTREPrésident de la Commission « Institutions européennes » du CIAN(Conseil français des investisseurs en Afrique)
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The Medef Summer University (#Laref21) has put the economic Francophonie this year on the agenda of its work, which ended with the announcement of a project to create a community of employers' organizationsof French -speaking countries.We can only rejoice at this private initiative at a time when La Francophonie is beaten in breach and that several French -speaking countries are tempted by the Sirens of the Commonwealth.
Cette proposition issue de la #LaREF21 constitue-t-telle un véritable tournant dans l’approche du fait francophone par les entreprises françaises qui ont jusqu’ici délaissé cette réalité ? On ne peut que l’espérer…
But it’s still far from won.Let's say, La Francophonie is today for our compatriots an accessory concern.Burry for some, asset for others, French as a language language has very relative, even marginal importance compared to English.
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Probably the manifestation of a national identity crisis and an excess of false modernism, but many French people do not even consider themselves French -speaking.In their eyes, French speakers are all those who speak French outside France, not the French.
In our state apparatus, this observation is particularly obvious.In matters of foreign policy, the Francophonie is clearly not a priority for France and the French do not realize how vulnerable it is because, contrary to the received idea, it is not guaranteed to growthe favor of African population growth.
It is clear that in international enclosures, the use of French in fact has greatly fell in favor of English and more often from the Globish, this ersatz of the English language which reduces the horizons of thought and limits theexpression more than it facilitates it.
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This is easy to see in Brussels, at the heart of this economic Europe, this Europe of affairs and this Europe of European institutions, where the Brexit effect does not play in favor of the Francophonie, far from it. Il y a vingt-cinq ans, 40 % des documents de la Commission européenne étaient rédigés en français, aujourd’hui il n’y en a plus que 3 %, cela parce que les parlementaires et les autorités laissent faire alors que l’anglais, rappelons-le, n’est pas la langue maternelle de l’Union européenne.
How could it be otherwise, in view of the way in which the Francophonie is organized.Despite recent improvements, the Francophonie today manages an institutional system which does not contribute to the visibility or the readability of its actions.Regarding more particularly of the economic Francophonie, it is clear that its results are not up to its potential.For the vast majority of companies, it remains a non-subject.
Companies perceive this economic Francophonie as the defense of the French language in business practice, theme that has become cheesy with French business circles which advocate linguistic diversity.
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The fact is that so far the economic tools implemented by the Francophonie have only been interested in French -speaking companies.These tools are at the crossroads of politics and business.By wanting to mix politics and economic and wanting to institutionalize these relationships, the result is that these tools are completely disconnected from the real world of the company.This mixture of genres ended up having a deterrent effect in the north as in the south on the most serious entrepreneurs, especially in the south ... As for the north, the notoriety of these tools with business environments is very low.
In doing so, we failed to give an economic extension to the French language, as did the British with the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) or the Portuguese with the community of Portuguese Languages (CPLP), thiswhich allows these organizations to potentiate the influence of their members within international organizations or during international negotiations.
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Continue thus to promote the economic Francophonie with the institutions but without the businesses, it is to remain in the incantation and the concept will remain hollow.Companies will only be seriously interested in the economic Francophonie from the moment they find an interest in it, which is not the case today ...
They will find an interest in it from the moment when France will make the Francophonie offensive a primary objective of its influence strategy - not to promote French interests - but to set up a community of interest that benefits fromAll Francophones.It is time for Francophones to bring a feeling of belonging to life and to set in motion a community of interests on the condition that it is not subject to the particular interests of the states that compose it.
The stake is the same among lusophones where CPLP leaders claim that it will not become a real community until the moment when Portugal ceases to envisage this organization as an instrument aimed at preserving or reconquering a certain statusor prestige within nations, and where Brazil will no longer use it as an additional instrument aimed at its international integration.
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But the economic Francophonie, the very one that the report of Jacques Attali in 2014 proposed to promote with several provisions which, moreover, remain current, should not be limited to improving the chances of doing business in French, withHere and there business clubs hanging at random from personal meetings and individual relations.
Its ambition must be global.This must result in the creation of new French-speaking influence tools, with a culture of economic war which ends with a management of the Francophonie too marked by French political culture, according to which public and private sphere pursue logicsopposite.
The economic Francophonie, in this strategy, must strengthen a sphere of influence, in particular from the continental law and standards with a view to establishing a French -speaking legal and normative union.
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In this regard, the OHADA space (Organization for Harmonization in Africa of Business Law) is a perfect example of the strategic interest of holding the power of the standard. Rappelons que l’OHADA, créée en 1993, est le théâtre en Afrique d’un rapport de force pour la conquête, le contrôle et la pratique du « pouvoir du droit ».
On the OHADA territory, one of the legal spaces most integrated into the world, and whose quality is unanimously recognized by English -speaking African states, thus oppose 18 French -speaking African countries, of civilian legal tradition, to the other countries of legal traditions fromCommon Law, especially.
But the balance of power is now tense and uncertain.Two French -speaking African states, Rwanda and Burundi are currently experiencing a switch period and others could follow. Ces États sont en train de passer d’un droit de tradition francophone à la Common Law ; de plus en plus de textes législatifs sont désormais rédigés par des anglophones alors que le système juridique reste, encore pour le moment, francophone.
This risk is increased by the fact in particular that the French state, if it is true that it had played a driving role at the time of the creation of the Ohada, tends to disinterested in the question ... Now, if we leaveThis deherence project, the economic Francophonie will not be credible and its future is in question.
The solution is far from simple.Some emergencies are essential, in particular that of admitting the need for a strategy of influence, counter-influence and offensive tools, such as OHADA or CIMA, the Interafican Conference of Markets'Insurance which brings together 14 countries in French -speaking Africa.
Let's get out of the incantation, the time is not for the Francophonie de la defensive, but that of the offensive and the objective must be to build a French -speaking economic space that can lastingly offer new possibilities of exchanges,increase in investments and business development and trade.
La prochaine présidence française du Conseil de l’Union européenne, durand les six premiers mois de 2022, sera-t-elle une opportunité historique pour le projet francophone ? On peut toujours rêver, mais il faut y croire pour redonner de la force à un projet qui doute de lui-même, et dont les élites françaises, trop souvent et depuis trop longtemps, se désintéressent.
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FROM THE SAME AUTHOR
Patrick SEVAISTRE (CCEF) :« Aide publique française au développement… et si l’on faisait confiance aux entreprises privées ? » https://swll.to/pka4i
Patrick SEVAISTRE (CIAN) : « L’Union européenne doit affirmer davantage son rôle de premier partenaire de l’Afrique »
P.SEVISTRE AND J.-M. de Bournonville : « Secteur privé et secteur informel, tous les deux acteurs du redémarrage des économies africaines »
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