Few days after the French election
Few days after Nicolas Sarkozy’s victory with 53% of the votes and waiting for the new government to be formed (May 17th), two main developments should be noticed.
- Talks are going on about offering non conservatives to become members of the future governement. Names such as Hubert Védrine, former Minister for foreign affairs under President Mitterrand and/or Bernard Kouchner, former UN representative in Kosovo, are circulating for the Minister of Foreign affairs position; Claude Allègre, former Minister of education under socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin (and by the way one of the most outspoken ennemies of Ségolène Royal) could also be part of the adventure. In the business sector, Anne Lauvergeon, former Mitterand’s sherpa on economic affairs and currently CEO of Areva/French nuclear energy company has also been approached by Sarkozy’s team.
Too early to say if one of those guys will accept Sarkozy’s offer : if they do, it could be very beneficial for the new President who has to soften his image of being too much partisan and divisive. It will also make François Bayrou’s life on the one hand, and the socialist party’s one on the other hand, very difficult : the so-called “center” which was arguing in favor of a new style of power in France bringing togther socialists, centrists and conservatives, would be defeated by such a smart move on Sarkozy’s side. On the left side, having long standing socialists like Védrine or Allègre becoming part of the new government would be a supplementary sign of the state of ideological and intellectual disarray of the socialist party.
- The Socialists, precisely : internal hostilities started 10 minutes after the result of the election..No one knows if Ségolène Royal will survive the defeat and will remain in the race as potential leader of the opposition and candidate for 2012. Other “elephants” (meaning long standing and kind of dominant figures of the socialist party) such as Dominique Strauss-Kahn have declared themselves ready for putting the Party back on a “winning” track, provided an ideological and political “aggiornamento” takes place within the left (the socialists definitely choosing a social-democrat type of agenda at the expense of a more leftist orientation). Whoever takes the lead here, it is clear that the Socialist party will go under strong and enduring turbulences in the next few months if not years.
For the anedocte: some seem to be shocked by Sarkozy spending his post-victory 4 days of vacation on a yacht belonging to one of the most powerful French CEOs ; Sarkozy’s wife has not been seen voting in the second run, and Ségolène Royal confessed she woke up everyday morning of the campaign wondering who in her own camp would make sure she would lose the election.. Back to daily politics in a way