[ He can feel himself getting appraised and the other man isn't being particularly underhanded about it, either, which is rare enough - it's just the way he looks at him, his body language. Natural curiosity, it seems, which is a lot more innocent than anything Jean Louis usually gets. In politics, you get up in the morning and prepare to get eaten; rules are rules, at least until you find a way to work them to your own advantage. After that, they're simply additional pathways leading towards the goal you're aiming for. It doesn't bother him, never has.

Once Claude decides that he's worth talking to, he elaborates.

Jean Louis tilts his head a little, leaving the leaf sitting on his fork. ]

Power is never simple. [ He puts the fork down lightly and leans forward. ] At least not for ordinary people. Hard to acknowledge what you don't know and never experience. The problem is - [ He picks out something else - a quarter of an egg! - from his salad. Chews it quickly before continuing: ] - a consent law would make your majority - those who don't care about the plight of women - feel powerless. They're much too used to that.

[ That would certainly prove a problem in Luxembourg, too. Not a point in the favour of such a proposition, at least not as a starting point for a new party. Later, rather, if they want to be progressive. ]