At a moment when the Goncourt Prize in France is awarded to a narrative about the annexation of Austria by the German Nazi regime and when October Revolution is commemorated, instead of being celebrated, history is omnipresent. It has invaded political debate in France, where are castigated policies conducted “for thirty years”. At the beginning, it was the left which was targeted because that period coincided with François Mitterrand election in 1981. But, years after years, this starting point has moved and this indictment has lost some of its political content. The main flaw of the Eighties is that they came after the “Glorious Thirties”, term invented by Jean Fourastié. The economist did not imagine how that formula would leave its mark on minds. His analysis was based on an accounting reality, the strong growth which followed the end of the war. But the reconstruction of a devastated economy mechanically shows a strong production increase. Atop of that, France had an exceptional demographic situation with a working force shortage resulting from the low birth rate between 1914 and 1945 and from the human losses caused by the two wars. Strong growth and low unemployment were enough to characterize as glorious such achievements. The arrival on the job market of the baby boom generation and the two oil price rises in 1972 and 1979 put an end to what was a parenthesis, more atypical than glorious. The following decade was much more decisive. It saw the birth of today world. To ignore it is taking the risk not to be able to make the appropriate choices to adapt to it.      

First, the Eighties experienced a major geopolitical upheaval with Gorbatchev coming into power in1985, after the shorts mandates at the Kremlin of Andropov and Tchernenko. It implemented “perestroika”, an economic and political program of reforms which will provoke the end of the Soviet Union. A major cause of international tension was disappearing with the Cold War and a disarmament process was started. The Russian economy did not take all the advantages it could have expected despite its huge raw materials resources. The instauration of a real democratic regime is still far away but it is not possible to deny the positive character of that major transformation on international relationship and on the world economy.

China had an even more spectacular transformation. The reforms instituted by Deng Xiao Ping, after the transition period which followed Mao’s death allow the country to be, today, the second most important economy on the planet. Hundreds of millions of persons emerged from the most extreme poverty and the country, through its growth, took it back the role in the world it had lost a century ago. The decade ended with the students demonstrations on Tien An Men square. The violent repression which followed them tarnished the evaluation of the period but the reforms rebound with the travel in the South of the Chinese leader would put back the country on the right track. The world was just becoming multipolar.

It was also becoming more and more dependant of financial markets, which will be less positive. The United States and England, under Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher boost adopted measures which transformed their working. Transactions on currencies, debts and interest rates would take a predominant place. Their fluctuations would have an influence on the real economy and would even become a source of instability. The first real crisis will occur in October 1987with a more than 20% fall in Wall Street. Traders misinterpreted the divergent declarations of two central banks, the FED and the Bundesbank. These shocks will be followed by the Asian crisis, the Japanese and Internet bubbles until the sub-prime crisis. The required regulations to prevent these excesses had not been taken. So, everything was not perfect during the Eighties.     

But for Europe, that period was the period of the recovery, especially from 1984 with the nomination, proposed by François Mitterrand, of Jacques Delors at Brussels. The admission of Spain and Portugal permitted to these countries to definitely break with their recent past and to enter the great family of the democracies. The preparation of the unified market and the first steps of the process which will lead to the creation of the euro was a top priority in the agenda of Commission and of the State-members, which will be introduced a few years after. The Berlin wall fell, under the pressure of the demonstrators in November 1989, allowing German reunification, through the democratic and pacific conditions wanted by France. The instauration of democratic regimes in the countries belonging to the Warsaw pact followed. That opened to them the doors of the European Union.

France also achieved transformations, breaking with a bureaucratic culture which put enterprises under the daily supervision of the minister of finance: prices control, thanks to a 1945 decree, credit management by the Treasury, foreign exchanges controls including foreign investments and investments abroad. It is through these reforms that France succeeded in getting rid of inflation. Regarding a country about which it is said that it doesn’t like reforms, it was not so bad. Social measures adopted at the beginning of the decade were never abolished and industrial restructuration, sometimes painful, permitted to strengthen production capacities. As a result, France enjoyed during almost fifteen years a trade surplus which had never been the case since the war. At last, in two sectors, energy and transportation, the country is still taking benefits from the achievements launched at that time. Founding decisions regarding nuclear power and high-speed tracks were taken just before president Pompidou death in 1974. Bust most of the nuclear power plants were built and put in activity during the Eighties, which permits to French people to have the cheapest electricity price in Europe. It is still the current situation. And regarding High-Speed trains, the program had been stopped by the Barre government. Its revival was the major work of the decade along with the construction of the Channel Tunnel. The enthusiasm regarding these achievements has not fallen. We just have to see how the opening of the new Paris-Bordeaux line has been welcomed.

What lessons can be learned from these historical reminders? The first one is that in misrepresenting the past, it is difficult to understand the current situation and to prepare the future. Globalization born in the Eighties is an irreversible phenomenon. To deny it and to propose to get rid of it does not make any sense. The second one is that without Europe France would be dramatically weakened. We just have to see how the current deadlock caused by the Brexit, the United Kingdom is confronted with. It is unable to propose to its former partners new relations. And anxiety is growing, not only in the City, among companies which need, for their supply chains as for their clients, the European market. The third lesson is about French people. They are wrong to look at the future with anxiety. They achieved in the past projects which were real successes. They knew how to adapt themselves to changes whose dimension was without common size with current challenges. It is the duty of political leaders to explain that to them.