Sarkozy’s opening to the left: cosmetic or real?
Rumors are accelerating in Paris about the new government including a certain number of personalities coming from the left spectrum of the French political class. Different names are floating around, and everything can change in the next 3 days. But if this move on the part of the new President is confirmed, it will really be an interesting time.
Sarkozy has triggered a difficult exercise: with only 15 Ministers available (to give the signal he wants a ”small” and efficient government), the need to respect gender parity, and the opening to center and left, the race to “be in” is raging within the conservative camp. Some of the most loyal supporters of the new President do not see the prospect of not being called upon and/or leaving seats to personalities coming from other political families with enthusiasm. Others also wonder how this opening to the left (if confirmed) is going to play out in concrete terms.
One can look at this in two different ways, which capture what we are hearing here and there in Paris right now. Some observers point out that opening the government to left and center shows Sarkozy’s willingness to govern in a different way, to diversify the political “offer,” to include other ways of thinking within what will fundamentally remain a conservative government. Others argue this is purely cosmetic: Sarkozy is about to gather people who may well not agree on fundamentals since they are supposedly so far apart on many social and economic issues. Viewed in this light, such a move would be doomed to fail eventually. It could also have an impact on parliamentary elections in June since no one knows how this “opening” to the left will play out for Sarkozy’s voters.
Sarkozy will be officially President tomorrow, May 16. Government should be formed and announced before the end of the week.