French voters urged to revive pride, solidify EU

French voters are preparing to answer appeals to revive the nation’s pride, boost its economy and help solidify Europe’s status as a giant in a competitive and divided world.

That, in effect, is the message emerging from the verbiage of the main candidates vying for France’s presidency. The first round of voting takes place April 22, followed by a contest between the two finalists on May 6.

The European Union, of which France is a founding member, considers the elections to be crucial, not only for France but also for its European partners. All remember that it was France and the Netherlands that two years ago rejected creating a European constitution, which paralyzed the search for a charter acceptable to all 27 EU member countries.

The electorate is torn between voters who would like to see radical change, and those who fear anything that might destabilize the traditional, if not outdated, concept of governance. Both camps have little confidence in the present political class.

The high profile of Segolene Royal, a woman and one of the two leading candidates, appears to simplify the issue for voters tired of conventional politics. Philippe Labro, a French political commentator, said: “The issue now is about a man and a woman — about deciding whom you are going to sleep with after the 8 p.m. television news.”

Some candidates claim they are defending the “identity of France,” others speak of building a stronger European unity. And, according to Stephen Clarke, an author of works about France, many French voters “deep down distrust modernism. They long for the days when theirs was the international language of diplomacy, and when only France made sparkling wine.”

The two candidates for the presidential Elysee Palace most favored by opinion polls symbolize “the new France” and constitute almost incredible “firsts” in French history: a female candidate against the son of a Hungarian immigrant, at a time when immigration control is a main national issues.

Nicolas Sarkozy, 52, is a former Interior minister, a first-generation French politician born to a Hungarian immigrant and French mother. He is the candidate of the centrist Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), now in power. Immigration and national pride are the hallmarks of his electoral campaign.

Segolene Royal, 53, is the candidate of the opposition Socialists and a former Cabinet member in previous Socialist governments. A mother of four, she has not married her companion of 26 years, Francois Hollande, secretary-general of the Socialist Party. She veers to the left on the economy but also urges discipline, traditional values and respect for the national flag.

Emerging from the shadow of relative political obscurity is Francois Bayrou, 55, leader of the small centrist Union for French Democracy. He held two ministerial posts in the 1990s and is regarded by many as a dark horse, although his popularity ratings so far are well below those of Mr. Sarkozy and Miss Royal.

As the campaign intensified, opinion polls increasingly favored Mr. Sarkozy over Miss Royal. Not a single recent survey predicted a Socialist victory.

Nonetheless Miss Royal continued her electoral battle on an anti-capitalist theme, in one of her statements attacking banks “enriching themselves on the backs of the poorest.”

Mr. Bayrou represents the “third force,” a term dear to French headline writers. He claims that his agricultural background identifies him with “the real France” more than the other candidates. In the 2002 presidential election he obtained 6.8 percent of the vote.

All three bring a new generation to the French political scene. Their age — all in their 50s — is in sharp contrast to previous candidates for France’s highest job and to Jacques Chirac, the departing president, who is 74 years old.

Trailing in opinion polls behind the first three is a noisy veteran rabble-rouser — Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the extreme right National Front — who offers such slogans as “keep France for the French,” plus a few others with a near-fascist vocabulary. Although now 78 years old, he has not given up his unfruitful political struggle, using the France’s 4 million Muslims as a fright issue.

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