France’s Right rejoices

Press, 12 February 1982, Page 13

France’s Right rejoices

By

ROBIN SMYTHE

For the first time since the French Socialists came to power eight months ago, the country's defeated Conservatives are rejoicing.

Within a single week-end President Francois Mitterrand has suffered two setbacks. Many socialists see these as. no more than a small cloud over their sun; but whatever the leaders are saying publicly, the course of France's left-wing coalition may have to be modified.

The first setback was a verdict of the Constitutional Council, the supreme judge of the acceptability of new legislation, which knocked seven holes in the text of the Government's nationalisation law. On the next night four Socialist candidates were severely defeated in by-elec-tions.

The Constitutional Council's decison meant that the Government must overhaul its plan to nationalise five of France's largest companies and 36 banks, giving greater compensation to shareholders. After eliminating aspects of the law judged to be unconstitutional, the text must be re-submitted for parliamentary approval. The process means a loss of six weeks in an already tightlypacked Socialist reform schedule.

The by-election defeats present no immediate danger

to the Government’s overwhelming majority in the National Assembly, but they show that the majority which brought Mitterrand to power in May has begun to divide and lose heart. Massive abstentions on the Left allowed right-wing opposition candidates to reoccupy three of the seats lost by a tiny disputed margin last June. In a fourth contest, Gaullist General Pierre de Benouville held his Paris constituency by' a much larger margin against his left-wing challenger. Many middle-of-the-road voters—businessmen, shopkeepers. and farmers—who moved over into the Socialist camp last year were too disappointed or apathetic to confirm their vote this time. Communists who have been quarrelling with their Socialist allies over Poland decided to withhold their support from socialist candidates, and some socialists stayed away from the polls because they felt their party’s pariliamentary majority to be sufficiently secure.

The Socialist leaders are angry and embarrassed about the verdict of the nine “wise men" of the Constitu-

tional council who, they feel, reflect the views of the conservative regime under which they were appointed.

The obstacles thrown in the way of nationalisations and the by-elections debacle have deepened the rift between the and the “minimalists" inside the French cabinet. The “minimalists." or moderates, led by Finance Minister Jacques

Delors, feel that the humiliating confrontation with the Council could easily have been avoided if the law had been properly drawn up in the first place.

The “maximalists"—the more doctrinaire socialists—wanted to cut back the compensation to shareholders by denying them dividends for 1981, thus running the risk of appearing to defraud them of their constitutional rights. In November, Delors appealed unsuccessfully for a "pause" in the socialist reform programme, contending that the pace of change was alienating middle-of-the-road supporters and the business community. He can now point to the by-election results as proof that moderate Socialist support is falling away. Both camps in the Socialist party agree thay have been let down by the Communists who have four ministers in the Government. The rivalry between the left-wing partners has already been sharpened for their next encounter in local Government elections in the spring. Meanwhile. President Mitterrand must decide whether to hit harder at the Right or to veer slightly rightwards himself to reconquer the lost centre. COPYRIGHT - LONDON OBSERVER SERVICE.