Ségolène Royal unveils far-left economic campaign platform

By Katrin Bennhold
International Herald Tribune
Sunday, February 11, 2007

VILLEPINTE, France

Ségolène Royal, the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party, unveiled a long- awaited platform on Sunday, veering sharply to the left on economic policy while also stressing discipline and "traditional values."

Ten weeks before the election, Royal is hoping to reverse a slide in popularity that has seen her lose ground to her main challenger, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

In a two-hour speech to about 10,000 supporters north of Paris, she laid out a 100-proposal platform, pledging to raise pensions, to increase the minimum wage to €1,500, or about $2,000, a month and to guarantee a job or further training for every youth within six months of graduating from university.

She also said that randomly selected citizens' juries would watch over government policy and that juvenile delinquents could be placed in educational camps run by the military.

As if to preempt her opponents on the right, she stressed throughout her speech that her ideas had been nourished in 6,000 debates with citizens throughout France, a method she has called "participative democracy."

"With me, politics will never again happen without you," a combative Royal, 53, told the crowd of flag-waving supporters wearing her logo on T-shirts and stickers. "Today I offer you a presidential pact: 100 proposals for France to rediscover a shared ambition, pride and fraternity."

Sunday marked the end of the two- month "listening phase" Royal decreed after her nomination in November. On her campaign Web site, a sky blue background was replaced by the blue, white and red of the national flag, and regional campaign teams were equipped with booklets summarizing her program.

In a sign that her recent decline in opinion polls has rallied some of the more skeptical members of her party, Royal's speech was attended by all senior Socialists, including her two rivals for the nomination.

Cheered by supporters and frequently interrupted by applause, she spoke with more ease than usual. When she talked about France's volatile suburbs, where riots erupted in November 2005 and high unemployment rates continue to curb the opportunities of second-generation immigrants, the emotion was evident on her face and in her voice.

"I want for the children in these suburbs what I want for my own children," she said, clenching a fist before her bright-red blazer and prompting the crowd to erupt into a two-minute standing ovation.

A former schools minister, she vowed that she would tackle the social exclusion in the suburbs by reducing the number of students in classes. She also promised free tutoring for students that have difficulties keeping up, and workshops for parents to teach them how to discipline their children.

A substantial part of her speech was dedicated to social and economic issues, on which Royal took a hard-left line.

"The unfettered rein of financial profit is intolerable for the general interest," she said. "You told me simple truths. You told me you wanted fewer income inequalities. You told me you wanted to tax capital more than labor. We will do that reform."

Royal said she would tax companies in relation to what share of their profits is reinvested in equipment and jobs, and what portion is paid to shareholders. She also promised to abolish a flexible work contract for small companies and hold a national conference in June on how to increase salaries.

Indeed, she seemed to have something to offer to most groups in society without saying how much the combined measures would cost: Under her presidency, she said, young women would get free contraception, all young people would get access to a €10,000 interest- free loan and the handicapped would see their benefits rise.

Royal also spoke about foreign policy, an area where she has recently been accused of incompetence, following a series of highly publicized gaffes. She called for a European Union that "protects its citizens" and said that, as president, she would lobby for the European Central Bank to consider not just inflation but also employment and growth when it sets interest rates.

"I don't want a Europe that is just a free-trade area attached to NATO," Royal said. "Even less do I want a Europe where it's everyone against everyone and social and fiscal dumping replaces solidarity."

She also said she would pursue a "solid partnership" with the United States, but accused Washington of sometimes being carried away by its size and power. "Size has nothing to do with principles," she said. Being less powerful "is never a reason to be silent, we saw that with Iraq, where the voice of France was not heard."

She said she would break with "corrupt regimes" and be blunt with allied countries, including Russia, whose "war crimes in Chechnya" she condemned.

Her speech, which touched on everything from the environment to education policy, comes after weeks of criticism from the center-right, which assailed Royal for lacking ideas and a clear program.

Ahead in the polls until late last year, Royal has slipped behind Sarkozy since he was officially nominated on Jan. 14. The latest BVA poll, conducted last week, gave the interior minister a four- point lead over Royal in a straight run- off and suggested that François Bayrou, a centrist candidate, was gaining ground at her expense.

Even members of her own camp had grown impatient in recent weeks, eagerly awaiting her program. But on Sunday, supporters in the Villepinte convention center expressed hope that her performance would be enough to kick start her campaign.

"She was good, much better than usual," said Marie-Pierre Grassineau, a 45- year-old social worker, who said she had feared Royal would disappoint in the face of inflated expectations. "At last the campaign can begin."

In an apparent attempt to steal the limelight, Sarkozy chose Sunday to give a speech to 3,000 supporters in central Paris, vowing that if elected he would open his government to politicians outside his center-right party.

His Union for a Popular Movement party swiftly denounced Royal's list of proposals as "archaic" and a return to old-school socialism.

Reminiscent of the 110 proposals that carried her mentor, François Mitterrand, to the Élysée Palace in 1981, Royal's presidential platform will be filled out with more details in a series of high- profile campaign meetings over coming weeks.