The electoral process deployed by the PN to elect its leader is of interest not simply because of the outcome. The real interest lies in the question: was the method followed effective enough?

The intention was to place the decision among the widest range of people having a commitment to the party: its members, as per the US model. The method adopted first asked the candidates of the party's general conference to choose two contenders and then let party members decide between the two.

In France the two largest parties (at least up to the last elections, for since then, their situation has changed) established right from the start that the choice of their candidate for the presidency and thereby de facto leader of the party would be left practically to the people as a whole. The only proviso was that those who went to vote needed to pay 10 euros (if I remember correctly).

One suspects that parties are hardly adopting this approach in order to strengthen democracy, but more likely they're doing it because they realize that their internal structures have become too weak and too remote. They no longer reflect the prevailing mood in the society at large. Indeed party primaries are promoting candidates who arrive from outside ruling structures.

In the case of the PN, an outside observer could also conclude that the selection process unnecessarily dragged on for too long, to the detriment of the party itself.

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JUNCKER'S DREAM

Does European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker suffer from a political version of bipolar disorder?

Some time - a year - ago, at the European Parliament, he gave an account of the state of the EU that was most fearful about its future; he claimed he had never seen the Union so divided and confused.

Last week, on a similar occasion covering 2017, the opposite was in order: everything's sunny, prospects for the Union are really encouraging and it should seize the opportunity as quickly as possible to strengthen and extend its powers and functions.

Both the pessimism and the optimism are over the top. Juncker is approaching the end of his term and would like to finish it on a high note. It would be his final opportunity to push forward the federalist agendas that were always his.

I was impressed most by the contrast between his declared objective for the EU to show that it is democratic and close to the concerns of people; and his proposals to strengthen federal structures by stealth, using existing clauses in the treaties that allow for changes to management rules following internal agreement. 

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SCHOOLS

When the time comes for schools to open, administrators, teachers, parents and children endure massive stress. It is difficult to say who is most affected by this.

I recently had an opportunity to observe how schools in France and Belgium open after the summer break. Over the years, preparatory arrangements have proliferated, so that the whole exercise seems to have become one needing a military setup. School transport, classes and educational facilities must be brought up to scratch, teaching personnel deployed correctly, children duly monitored, curricula in order... reports in news bulletins during the day till late evening... as the machinery starts to turn.

If problems arise, embarrassing stories make headlines. If things develop more or less as they should, the whole matter is immediately forgotten.