The industrial crisis is challenging both the EU and France’s distinct social and economic models

On International Workers’ Day, as demonstrators fill the streets of Paris under the banner of “bread, peace, and freedom,” William Hilderbrandt is pleased to welcome Rémi Bourgeot, Economist and Researcher at IRIS, and Author of Epistelem.org. What begins as a discussion about the sanctity of May 1st in France quickly descends into something more fundamental: an interrogation of the French and European economic model itself. Bourgeois challenges the idea that isolated reforms, such as labor market liberalization, can address what he describes as a systemic unraveling shaped by deindustrialization, bureaucratic inertia, and technological decline: “there’s really an overall problem with the economic model,” he says. The energy crisis, geopolitical instability, and supply chain fragility only intensify this underlying socioeconomic imbalance.