Dossier · 8 parts · 50 decisions
1975-2025: France through its decisions
Eight parts covering the fifty decisions the Institut Thomas More holds responsible for France's decline — what the report says, what it documents, and what it leaves out.
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01 1975-2025: what the Institut Thomas More report says
A liberal-conservative think tank has identified fifty public decisions it holds responsible for France's decline. We read all 112 pages. First installment: what this report says, who wrote it, and what it claims to prove.
frames the dossier Read this part -
02 School, culture, family: seven decisions in the Thomas More report
From the 1975 comprehensive-school reform to the 2025 EVARS sex-education program, by way of the 1982 Lang decree and marriage equality, the Institut Thomas More report reads seven decisions on school, culture and family as chapters of the same decline narrative. Second installment of our annotated reading.
7 decisions 1975-2025 Read this part -
03 Immigration and borders: seven decisions in the Thomas More report
From 1976 family-reunification rights to the Constitutional Council's 2018 'principle of fraternity' ruling, by way of the Creil headscarf affair, Schengen and state medical aid, the Institut Thomas More report reads seven decisions as stages of the same process. Third installment - the most sensitive in this series.
7 decisions 1976-2018 Read this part -
04 Work, tax and welfare: eight decisions in the Thomas More report
From the 1981 wealth tax to the end of universal family allowances in 2015, by way of retirement at 60, the 35-hour week and the welfare minimum income, the Institut Thomas More report examines eight decisions on work, taxation and the welfare state. Three of them do not say what their title suggests. Fourth installment in our commented reading.
8 decisions 1981-2015 Read this part -
05 Public services and bureaucracy: ten decisions in the Thomas More report
From the 1979 medical numerus clausus to the abolition of the residence tax in 2017, by way of the Defferre decentralization laws, regulatory inflation, ONDAM, the SRU law, activity-based hospital funding, the regional health agencies, civil-service headcount and the NOTRe law, the Institut Thomas More report examines ten decisions on public services and bureaucracy - the densest installment of this series. Fifth installment in our commented reading.
10 decisions 1979-2017 Read this part -
06 Authority and democracy: eight decisions in the Thomas More report
From the 1983 repeal of the loi Peyrefitte to the 2018 anti-"fake news" law, by way of the new penal code, the five-year presidential term, the 2009-2014 military programming law, the prison law, the limits on holding multiple offices, and the loi Taubira, the Institut Thomas More report examines eight decisions on authority and democracy - what protects and what deliberates. Sixth installment in our commented reading.
8 decisions 1983-2018 Read this part -
07 Sovereignty: ten decisions in the Thomas More report
From the 1984 milk quotas to the 2021 Climate and Resilience law, by way of the Single European Act, Maastricht, SAFER, the euro, the precautionary principle, the Lisbon Treaty, Alstom and Fessenheim, the Institut Thomas More report examines ten decisions on sovereignty - the densest installment of this series. Seventh installment in our commented reading.
10 decisions 1984-2021 Read this part -
08 What the report leaves out: the Ouroboros and two disagreements
Twelve lessons restated without irony, a mechanism the report documents but never names, a demographic loop it never closes, an injustice it only half sees - and two open disagreements with the Institute. The final installment of this series, and the only one this site signs in its own name.
frames the dossier Read this part
The source
This dossier is an outside reading of a report published by a third party. It does not replace it.
1975-2025 : les 50 décisions qui ont coulé la France (rapport 36, juin 2026), Jean de Belot, Tarick Dali et Jean-Thomas Lesueur.
Published by Institut Thomas More.