I remember reading that they were shocked then. But I don't read French, and really would love to know, how long did they stay shocked, did they do anything about it, do they still remember or care?
First were the reports of the heatwave, then came the overflowing hospitals of heatstroke victims, then the deathcount... the final news report was that the elderly who had died weren't being picked up by their kin; ie: they "preferred" to stay on their vacations and decided to keep their family on ice in the local morgues rather than cut short their most-highly important vacations. After that, other "more important" news took the foreground, and the issue sort of just embarassingly was swept under the rug.
The intellectual side of me recognizes that this sort of thing happens whenever the people have become complacent enough to let the government handle all it's problems (any government big enough to give you everything you need is strong enough to take everything you have") - and that's what the socialism-blunted euros have allowed themselves to devolve into. But my visceral gut roars out in rage against such a despicable act. No vacation; NOTHING!!! is more important to me than the welfare of my kin.
And these people deign to criticize our country? Me rozo los cojones con ellos! Their nation is dead; they just don't know it yet.