Hollande will either save or sink the European left

A socialist arguing with Thatcher

It is ironic that one of the poorest French presidential campaigns for many years should also be of capital importance for socialist parties across Europe. 

If François Hollande wins he will have given them hope and inspiration for their own campaigns, but if he loses, particularly against an extremely unpopular president and after enjoying a substantial lead since the start, the European left could be condemned to years spent out in the cold.

Britain, Spain and Portugal are among a list of socialist-run countries who were paradoxically thrown out of office at least partially because of the economic crisis which began with the sub-prime scandal, all of which shows that there is no such thing as ‘fair’ in politics.

But things are as they are, and socialist parties are today in the unenviable position of having to stand by ineffectually as conservative governments all over Europe vote draconian belt-tightening measures into law, thus condemning their citizens to several years of relative hardship.

Now however, the electoral calendar dictates that Nicolas Sarkozy has to place his faith and future in the ballot box. It’s the last thing he would have wanted of course, given that even before the campaign began it was being widely accepted on all sides that his immense unpopularity would give Hollande a substantial advantage.

And so it has proved, with Hollande still maintaining a sizeable second-round lead, albeit reduced from its initial size, of five to six points, depending on which poll you read. This is good news for him of course, and he must be hoping that anti-Sarkozy voting intentions will hold up, even if they aren’t necessarily indicative of a positive vote for his own policies. 

This is why other European socialist parties who are themselves awaiting elections at one time or another are watching this contest anxiously. They, like Hollande, are being lambasted by conservative governments and presidents who allege that they simply would not be able to implement spending policies based on taxing the rich and spending the proceeds, as this would not in itself do much to reduce deficits. But if they win power they will be in a position to change the many drastic debt-reducing measures introduced by Europe and the CEB. And if Hollande is elected they will take heart from the assumption that the much dreamed of voter backlash against conservative leaders and policies may have begun and will help them too.

However, although Hollande could hardly have wished for better circumstances in which to launch an election campaign it is also true that if he fails to win he will be the second French socialist candidate in five years to lose an apparently unloseable election.

And if Sarkozy is re-elected it will have become clear that although he is immensely unpopular, voters will have decided that Hollande’s alternative policies on the economy were not credible despite their apparent attractions.

This nightmare scenario is everything that other socialist parties are currently dreading. After all, if Hollande cannot win this election, what possible hope could they - and European socialism itself - have for the future?

The Mélenchon - Le Pen debate: From the gutter to the sewer…

Would you vote for either of these people?

The dreadful fare served up to French TV viewers yesterday evening was not worthy of its billing as a ‘political debate.’ It was abject, ugly, and it heaped discredit not only on the participants, but on French TV and political culture as a whole.

The idea of pitting France’s most reviled politician against its most boorish personality in a political debate was extremely risky from the start, and the derisory result came as no surprise. Perhaps the expectation of a debacle explains why the debate got the highest viewing figures on French TV last night.

The protagonists were extreme-right Front National leader Marine le Pen and extreme-left Front de Gauche leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon – both of whom are presidential candidates - and they were invited to debate on national TV channel France 2 during prime-time yesterday evening. The subject, of course, was their respective political platforms and election proposals.

In fact, it was a minor miracle that the debate even happened in the first place, because Le Pen had fiercely resisted France 2’s decision to pick Mélenchon to oppose her up until the last moment, citing the latter’s use of insults such as “stupid’, “barbaric”, fascist and “half-demented” to describe her. But she finally relented for reasons which still remain unclear.

Mélenchon got things underway with a politely-expressed question on abortion, whereupon Le Pen, ignoring it, turned instead to David Pujadas, the presenter, accusing him of organizing the event uniquely in order to boost viewer ratings. Whereupon she swiveled round to face Mélenchon, and accused him of insulting “the 40% of the working class who are going to vote for me.” Mélenchon tried another question, and Le Pen told Pujadas that she was not going to debate with Mélenchon. Who tartly riposted with “Well what are you doing here then! Leave!” Le Pen asked Mélénchon to apologise for calling her “half-demented” only to hear him snap back “So? You’ve still got the other half.”

This spectacle was a litany of mutual insults and petty sarcasms. “You don’t serve any purpose….and look at me when I’m talking to you” shouted Mélenchon. Le Pen, needling him, said “We’re not on the same electoral level….You’re a public insulter.” 

On it went, with Mélenchon’s face becoming contorted with sneering disdain and Le Pen completely ignoring him by pretending to organise her papers. Finally she repeated to Pujadas that she wouldn’t debate with Mélenchon, saying that seeing as his policies were delusions and that he himself was a delusion, no debate was possible. 

And that was that.

It would of course be easy to find all this amusing if only because it was so ludicrous, and indeed it was, in a way. But there was nothing funny about the level of debate. It was a parody of everything that politics should be about, and it was an insult to French politics, the presidential election, every single French voter and every single TV licence payer.

From Mélenchon’s jeering, leering snarling  and nastily aggressive tone to Le Pen’s insulting feigned indifference and her risible attempts to mock her adversary, the whole show was a contemptible travesty and a showcase for the stinking underbelly of extremist politics on both sides of the divide.

French political debate has always been marked by ill-tempered insult, but the Mélenchon-Le Pen confrontation yesterday saw it reach new lows. It slithered off the pavement and into the gutter before oozing into the drains and dripping into the stinking sewer and cesspit of ideological hatred.