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What is Denis Kataev right right
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In June, an interview with journalist Denis Kataev, known for work on the Rain TV channel, was published on the Yuri Dudia channel. After the outbreak of war in Ukraine, he emigrated to France. There, Kataev began working at a local radio station, started a telegram channel about local life and sincerely imbued with sympathy for President Emmanuel Macron.
Political scientist Sasha Listratov, editor of the telegram channel about the French policy "Allo, Macron", also looked at this interview. In his opinion, Denis Kataev idealizes French policy, contrasting it with Russia as an example of successful democracy. What is dangerous such a position and what exactly Kataev is mistaken in - Sasha Listratov dismantled several of his statements for Doxa.
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Vitya ErshovPublication
June 26, 2025
"I really love France and I am very good about Emmanuel Macron"
“He is the president of development and rationality,” says Denis Kataev. Macron, in his opinion, is a modern, adequate and decisive politician who can think with categories of the future, not the past. He expresses, as Kataev says, "absolutely my view of this world, faith and optimism."
Meanwhile, the macron approval rating in June, at official surveys , is only 21–29%. This is one of the lowest indicators for all his presidency. Even in April 2020, against the background of Lockdown, the rating reached the maximum 46–50%. Increasingly, his rule of government is described as an authoritarian one: the French political scientist Bruno Bruno Kotra, for example, notes that the second term of Macron is accompanied by the strengthening of the “vertical of power”, another political scientist Luke Ruban believes that society more and more feels a shortage of democracy.
Kataev believes that the French simply do not understand the benefits of neoliberal measures promoted by the president. Among the most resonant - the pension reform of 2023, carried out bypassing parliamentary voting, which just provoked large -scale protests and a serious drop in Macron's rating. Previously, changes in labor legislation that simplified the procedure for dismissal and weakened the influence of trade unions caused a similar effect. Kataev ironically comments on the next round of protests around the pension reform: “For the third year in a row, they [left] dance around this topic, on which any sane economist will not even argue.” However, what Kataev calls “unwillingness to work” or “irrationality” is an integral part of the French political culture.
Freedom here is not a decorative idea, but a living tradition of constant resistance.
To protest is not an abstract “national trait”, as Kataev thinks, but a historical habit of fighting any manifestation of abuse of power - from student and working protests in May 1968 to mass shares of the movement of “yellow vests” A large-scale protest movement, so named due to the fact that its participants wore refenting vests. In 2019. Behind this habit is a huge infrastructure: dozens of left -wing parties, hundreds of trade unions , tens of thousands of associations , associations, and lower initiatives. And when the authorities begin to ignore these structures - it inevitably receives in response to the streets and large -scale strikes crowded with people.
Macron is increasingly becoming an object of criticism not only from the side of the radical street, but also from the leading French media. L'Humanité, Mediapart, Libération and many others regularly publish materials in which Macron is called the conductor of capital interests, a technocrat that destroys the foundations of the social model of France. His reforms , especially the pension, are imposed without discussion. Journalists criticize Macron for the dissolution of parliament with the subsequent announcement of extraordinary elections in 2024.
We will not break out if you support us!
This, like a rigid suppression of protests with the participation of the police, cause a feeling of dismantling of democratic mechanisms for managing the country. Excessively close cooperation of the authorities with private large companies like McKinsey also causes additional alarm. For many, especially among left -wing and trade unions, Macron became the embodiment of power divorced from society. Thus, in 2024, the leader of the largest trade union CGT compared him to Louis XVI, who locked him in Versailles, noting that the president “lost touch with reality” and acts as if popular discontent simply does not exist.
"The left idea ruined France"
“And she brought her into an economic impasse ... Where to get the money from? Let's put the wealthy taxes even more, and we ourselves will sit in the Luxembourg Garden and do nothing, ” says Kataev. He suggests that no one in France wants to work, everyone hopes for benefits and only want to strengthen the tax burden on the rich, who already “drag” the whole economy on themselves. Supporters of this view regularly appeal to the failure of the left model - they say, high taxes (like 75 % for super -rich under President Francois Hollande Francois Hollande - President of France (2012–2017) from the Socialist Party, who came to power under the left slogans and promises of social justice, but eventually realized the right -capacity course: a strict budget policy, concessions to business and weakening of labor guarantees. ) They led only to the flight of capital and the leak of investors.
A similar view of political life has long become a familiar part of the neoliberal arsenal. Allegedly, left -handed dreamers living at the expense of a “responsible” minority. Psychologist Jordan Peterson regularly contrasts “naive” supporters of social justice “realists”, capable of taking responsibility. In France, this discourse was also picked up: for example, Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 declared the need to "end the spirit of May 1968", reproaching the left of the utopism.
At the heart of this rhetoric is the idea of taxes as a peculiar scurry, punishment for success.
Social guarantees here are interpreted as an excess whim that decomposes labor ethics. But taxes are not a set, but a form of collective responsibility. They allow you to finance what society cannot exist without: healthcare, education, social infrastructure. For example, according to Insee (the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Research of France), the redistribution of taxes, social transfers and public services is about 25 % of the country's net national income - more than 500 billion euros per year, and 57 % of the population are net recipients of this system.
This redistribution not only strengthens social cohesion, but also gives direct economic advantages : reduces the costs of combating poverty and the consequences of social disintegration, stimulates internal demand by supporting low -income groups, and also creates stable conditions for investment and growth of human capital.
But let's see exactly how "left -wing ideas ruined France." From 1997 to 2002, the “United Left” coalition was in power in Power, it was headed by Prime Minister Lionel Zhospen. For this period, key social reforms have been found, many of which remain an integral part of French everyday life and now: the introduction of a 35-hour working week, the creation of universal medical insurance, the establishment of a civilian package of solidarity (legal unions recognized for everyone, including same-sex pairs), adoption of a law on housing quotas.
Then, in France, SMIC (analogue of the minimum wage) was reformed - the minimum wage, which is 1,426.30 euros in June 2025 after taxes. SMIC has become a cornerstone of poverty to fight: it is indexed annually taking into account inflation and growth of salaries and provides millions of workers with the right to decent reward for their work.
The principle of social justice was embodied in the field of human rights. In 2013, France legalized same -sex marriages - despite the massive protests of the right, the decision was made by the government of socialist Francois Olland, becoming a symbol of recognition of equal rights, regardless of sexual orientation. And in 2024, the efforts of both left and centrists and feminist forces, the right to abortion was included in the Constitution - for the first time in the world.
At the same time, the economy not only did not collapse - on the contrary, when the state policy is focused on the principles of social justice, employment is growing, confidence in institutions is strengthened, and society as a whole becomes more stable.
Thus, the French organization Alerte showed that the fight against poverty is an investment with a positive economic return: additional expenses of 18 billion euros per year in the long run are not only fully paying off, but also significantly reduce indirect costs for healthcare, justice and other spheres, while stimulating economic growth and revenue for employment and labor productivity.
In addition, according to LE Monde journalists, increasing income of the poorest 20% of the population by 1% will lead to an increase in GDP by 0.38% over five years, while a similar increase in income in 20% of the most secured leads, on the contrary, to a decrease in GDP by 0.08%.
In 2024, a new Popular Front appeared in France - the coalition of the left -wing forces. Its participants also propose to reform the taxation system, limit profit from rent and reduce the retirement age to 60 years and restore social infrastructure destroyed as a result of macron reforms.
"I do not agree that in France there is Islamophobia"
“There is a law Law No. 2010-1192 of 2010 prohibits concealing a face in public places in France (including Nikab). prohibiting nicab Muslim female headdress. , and it applies not only to Muslims. France is a secular state, and everything is honest, ”Kataev believes . Formally, the law proclaim neutrality to everyone, but in practice it is applied selectively-primarily by the police, officials and administrations of educational institutions, where the cases of pressure and restrictions on women Muslims are most often recorded.
For example, in 2023, the Minister of Education Gabriel Attal imposed a ban on wearing Abayi in schools - a free long dress, which is not a religious symbol in the legal sense. After that, about 67 schoolgirls were removed from classes, as they refused to change clothes.
Then even the State Council The State Council of France (Conseil d'état) is the Supreme Administrative Court and the advisory body under the government, which monitors the legality of the actions of the state and gives conclusions on the draft laws. He admitted that such clothing does not violate the secular law, but at the same time decided that it “demonstrates religious affiliation” and therefore is subject to restriction. The decision caused protests from the teacher’s trade unions. Even earlier, in 2021, the 17-year-old schoolgirl was removed from classes for a black long skirt-the school administration considered it “too religious” .
It is not at all about the neutral protection of secularism, but about the cultural norm, which requires the Muslim women to be inconspicuous, adapt to the abstract image of the “Republican Woman”. The French human rights activist and feminist Rokai Dyallo remarks : “We claim that women are free in their choice - but if they choose a scarf, how this choice is immediately declared erroneous. This is not a liberation. This is control. "
Anthropologist Hamza Esmil writes that since the late 1990s in France the image of Muslims was created as a public threat: at first there were talk about the “Islamization of the suburbs” , then the laws against shawls, and then the program “Combat Radicalization”. All this, he emphasizes, not a spontaneous reaction to some problems of the integration of Muslims, but an element of conscious policy-the ideological design of a “Muslim problem” , turned into a symbol of the anxieties of modern France. As a result, French secularism, conceived as the protection of the principle of republican neutrality, is increasingly used as a means of exclusion.
"I believe in the French court"
“I believe in the independence of the court. The court is adversarial. And I believe in competitiveness in France, ” is another key thesis of Kataev. Behind this formula is not just trust in legal procedures, but an idealized idea of France as a space of complete legal neutrality, where the court guarantees justice by definition. However, confidence in the adversarial and impartiality of French justice conflicts with reality. In recent years, French media has repeatedly recorded cases of politicization of judicial processes, pressure on judges and disputed decisions that caused public protests. Even in mature democracy, the judicial system is not safe from vulnerability, but faith in its unconditional justice is rather an ideological projection than the result of a sober analysis.
So, the newspaper L'Humanité covered in detail and the beginning of the process over the five employees of the La Poste postal service in the O-de-Wen Department, who were tried in June this year after participating in the trade union strike. The reason was that they twice entered the administrative building of the company in order to achieve negotiations with the management. For these actions, they were charged with “violation of order in the office premises” and even “applying violence”-according to the accusation, due to a verbal conflict with security.
The prosecutor's office requires five years in prison for each and fines up to 75 thousand euros. And this despite the fact that their actions were aimed at implementing a constitutionally guaranteed right Articles L2511-1 - L2512-1 of the Labor Code of France. On a collective protest and strike. At the same time, the court refused to introduce video recordings from the scene - the only evidence that could confirm the position of the defense - and actually sided with the employer.
Another resonant incident is given by Mediapart-the story of the 73-year-old activist of the Yellow Veles of Genevieve Liege, who received a traumatic brain injury after acceleration of a peaceful demonstration in Nice. The trial was first delayed, and then ended in essence the justification of the police. Neither sanctions, nor recognition of illegality are only a formal explanation covering violence. And such cases are not single: the French judicial system in the context of protest shares regularly demonstrates the tendency to defend the existing order, and not the rights of citizens.
In addition, Le Monde notes the intensifying closeness of the judicial system: journalists are increasingly limiting access to the case file, and the courts are literally “barricaded” from the press, abandoning dialogue and transparency. Moreover, the reporters themselves experience the pressure - some of them reported that they became objects of investigations by internal intelligence (DGSI), the purpose of which was to establish sources of information used by journalists.
Yes, in France, with all its problems, the courts have institutional autonomy, while in Russia, court decisions are often made by calling the judge from the presidential administration or law enforcement agencies. But to build a French system into the ideal, as Kataev does is to ignore reality. The French court is not a neutral arena, it is also able to act repressively, to serve the interests of the authorities and suppress the right to freedom of expression.