At the moment we are celebrating the 500th anniversary of Francis I’s decision to create the Port of Le Havre. At the time, the Port of Rouen, one of Europe’s centers of textile trade, was not big enough to cope with the increase in traffic, and to organize the conquest of the New World, which the king did not want to leave to the Spanish.
Since then, this port has failed to live up to its promise; and this provides a fitting occasion to reflect on that lost opportunity, among others, to make France a great maritime nation. Indeed, through this port, they could have decided, like all other major countries, to make it the main city of the country. On the contrary, the kings of France have done nothing to build a city there (but some tax benefits); let alone a capital. They continued to live in the castles they built on the banks of the Loire, and they left the capital of France in Paris, that is, in the middle of nowhere. While elsewhere, power was in Venice, Genoa, Antwerp, Amsterdam, London, New York, Shanghai. Only ports.
For five centuries, and to this day, Le Havre has not been provided with the means necessary for its development. Or any other port in France. One after the other, the attempts of Richelieu, Mazarin, Louis XV, Napoleon 1st, Louis XVIII, and Napoleon III failed. Today Le Havre, despite recent and laudable efforts of local representatives and state officials, is only the 65th port in the world; Marseille is not even among the first hundred and Paris will soon be no more than the hinterland of Rotterdam, the first European port and the 13th largest port in the world.
This choice, made five centuries ago and so often confirmed ever since was decisive. A deadly choice. Unless we react quickly.
And yet there is no question of moving the capital out of Paris, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but doing at last what should have been done five centuries ago, which has been predicted for at least two centuries: to group together into a single administrative entity the territory from Paris to Le Havre, giving this entity all the necessary means to improve the capacity of the port, the links between the port and the capital, and with the rest of the country, in particular with Lille, so that Les Hauts de France are not tempted to become a suburb of Flanders.
It is a matter of urgency: within one or two decades, as a result of climate change, boat traffic coming from Asia will pass through a new passage, opened in the Arctic by the thaw, known as the « Northwest Passage. » This will work, once again, against Le Havre and in favor of ports in Northern Europe. France then will be marginalized even more than it is today.
The transformation to be undertaken goes much further: the rural fixation and anti-maritime obsession of France feed and are fed by France’s reluctance to change, innovation, the spirit of adventure, and in particular the entrepreneurial spirit. This explains our country’s preference for what’s invariant, for the return of the same, for the past, for rooting, for the accumulation of wealth, at the expense of profit. For a secure income much more so than for the risk of making a fortune.
However, land needs not be an enemy of the sea. There is no need to question the critical importance of a genuine, deindustrialized, closer to consumers, and more transparent agriculture, to support the sea and its values.
France has within itself all the means to do so. It has the world’s second-largest maritime area; it produces yachts and cruise ships that are competitive globally. It is home to one of the world’s very leading ship owners; and its navy is still one of the very first in the world. Thus it has everything needed so that its sailors’ values can prevail, in economy, politics, art, and education.
It would mean not missing this new opportunity. So that the 500th anniversary of Le Havre can represent a positive opportunity to give some serious thought to the future of our identity.