The democracies (also) lack talent and qualified personnel

While companies in many sectors are currently suffering from a labor shortage, “Western democracies also have a problem with qualified personnel,” the Financial Times fears. In a scathing editorial, journalist Janan Ganesh explains the political turmoil the United States and Europe have been going through for the past decade with “a lack of talent” among liberal and moderate political currents. “Perhaps liberalism is running out of exceptional men and women. Or just very good. »

The columnist takes as an example the current race to succeed Boris Johnson in the UK, for which Rishi Sunak is a favourite. “He stereotypically engages in politics like he’s just out of a course on ‘how to do politics’. In a thriving democracy he would make a good chief of staff at Downing Street. From today’s perspective, amid a devastated Tory landscape, the former Treasury Secretary is clearly the best candidate for Prime Minister. »

Only Emmanuel Macron is spared

The labor camp finds little more grace in his eyes. Not even the rest of the foreign policy staff. Janan Ganesh is scratching the American Democrats, led by “pensioner” Joe Biden, about their disinterest in the last duel in Germany between Olaf Scholz and Armin Laschet, while in Italy “a technocrat named Mario has appeared for the second time in a decade”. trying to subdue an Italian political class that lacks stature,” referring to Prime Ministers Mario Monti and Mario Draghi.

Only Emmanuel Macron emerges unscathed from his overview (“He would have struck a spark in any area”), unlike François Hollande, a “tedious opportunist” who prevailed as the only remedy after Dominique Strauss-Kahn was consumed in the scandal .

“A Supply Problem”

In his opinion, there is “a supply problem”: the personalities who could claim high offices no longer go into politics, but into business, where they get better pay and a much less exposed private life. “In a way, democratic capitalism itself is eroding. By allowing private careers with such attractive pay and privacy, politics becomes a fool’s game. And the resulting demise of laws and institutions, in turn, threatens the economy,” the Financial Times columnist said.

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