“Brittany will be independent, that is the meaning of history”.

“Brittany will be independent, that is the meaning of history”.

In “Du bonheur d’être breton”, Gilles Martin-Chauffier announces that the regions will take their revenge on the nations. Well helped by Europe.
While Catalonia is tormented by its future within the Iberian peninsula, a small book (77 pages) dares to say what everyone thinks, or fears – depending on the situation. In Du bonheur d’être breton (published by Équateurs), Gilles Martin-Chauffier, editor-in-chief of Paris Match, explains that, like Catalonia, Brittany (and the other French and European regions) will be independent in the medium term. This secession “is inevitable, written in the facts. It is like global warming,” he writes in the introduction to his book. After a long review of the history of Brittany, the journalist announces the end of the unity of France; the large regions, with a strong cultural identity and favoured by Brussels, will (finally) take their revenge on the nation states, which have been all-powerful for at least a century and a half. A polemical and fascinating pamphlet.
Interview:
Le Point: Why did you decide to write this book that imagines independent Brittany?

Gilles Martin-Chauffier: What triggered the book was what was happening in Catalonia. I observed with passion, and all Europeans should observe, what was happening there. The Catalans have played their cards very badly. They have confused fiscal independence with national independence. The main argument used by the supporters of independence was economic: they felt that Catalonia was giving too much money to others. This made them look unsympathetic. But they should have put their fight on a cultural level: Castile is Castile; Catalonia is Catalonia. Catalonia has its identity (Mediterranean country), its language, its culture (Sagrada Familia, Miró, Dalí). But whatever happens, Catalonia has seriously shaken the Spanish edifice. Nothing will ever be the same again. In Spain and in Europe. So this made me want to write this book with a premise: the big regions will want to become independent. It’s the direction of history. Today, it’s Catalonia, Scotland, Flanders; tomorrow, it will be Corsica’s turn (we’ve seen the electoral results), Sardinia. And I am convinced that the European Union will help this movement.
The Bretons, the Basques, the Corsicans, the Alsatians have had a very long personal history. But they don’t know it. It is all the work of Michelet, who wrote, and invented, a history of France.
So you expect a domino effect, which would affect Brittany in the medium term?
Absolutely. It won’t be done violently. Let’s do a little history, Brittany did not fight when France integrated it. Its assimilation went very well. Nevertheless, Brittany has a very strong identity, notably geographical (people know where Brittany is) and cultural. Bretons don’t have a vindictive, surly nationalism, but it is visceral. When you go abroad, the basic Breton goes out with his flag. Brittany will end up asking for its independence even if, in the end, it has fallen in love with France. Because the French are lied to. The Germans of Bavaria know very well that they do not have a common history with Germany; the Italians of Florence know that they are not Italians like the others, they have their own history. The Bretons, the Basques, the Corsicans and the Alsatians have had a very long personal history. But they don’t know it. This is the work of Michelet, who wrote, and invented, a completely false history of France. And people believed it.
Will Brittany and the other French regions take the risk of separating from France?
That’s just it, there is no risk. The nations want to make it look like that, but the electricity will still be sold. Nothing will happen. When Czechoslovakia broke up, it went well.
In Catalonia, companies have relocated their headquarters, the economy has slowed down…
It’s a complete sham. They are threats. In the book, I write “throw yourself in and the wings will grow”, and that’s what has always happened. There will be no economic disruption if Brittany, or any other region, becomes independent. When that happens, the new capital will be Brussels. It is as simple as that. Instead of a Europe of 27, it will be a Europe of 60. Brussels will be the sole interlocutor. In fact, this is already the case to some extent, since Europe decides on almost everything. We can see it on glyphosate, migrants, etc. Brussels will decide how these new regions will be managed. Brussels will decide how these new regions will be organised. Take France in 1200, Paris does not make the law. Little by little, cities like Rouen or Toulouse lost their prerogative, power passed to Paris and France became centralised. In 30 or 40 years, it will be the same with Brussels.
Is there not a risk that France, or what will remain of it with fragmented regions, will lose its influence in the world?

It doesn’t matter. France will no longer be France. France’s influence in the world has been declining for 150 years. The only way for our country to remain a dominant force is to be a driving force in Europe.
However, thanks to the monarchy, the Empire and the Third Republic, centralism forged France’s identity…

This is not the identity of France. Its identity is its climate, its architecture, its art of living. France is not a Jacobin state, it is a state of mind. For the rest of the world, France is a certain idea of charm, beautiful cities, perfume, fashion, literature. When the regions are independent, we will keep all the charm of France and lose all the heaviness of the French state.
In your book, you write: “Brussels will divide in order to rule”, because “the old regions will be more manipulable than the current large nations”. Is Brussels playing the regions against the nations?
The Brussels Commission is desperately fighting to increase its power: the weaker the nations are, the better the chance it has of having a grip on the countries. It is like the kings of France in the year 1000: it has symbolic power for the moment, but it is the barons (in this case the nations) who wield the power. If Brussels wants a European army, the French army must be disbanded. And that’s how it is in all areas.
In 1953, Georges Bidault said: “Europe must be built without defeating France”. In the end, the conclusion of your book is quite the opposite.

Of course. Georges Bidault said what the time meant. We were not going to announce the colour. Of course the nations will disappear. Europe is the sky. France, Germany and the others are the clouds
Du bonheur d’être breton : les régions contre les nations », de Gilles Martin-Chauffier, ed. Équateurs, 77 pages