FRANCE: French socialists yesterday gave a major boost to plans for a European constitution, writes Lara Marlowe, in Paris
The magnitude of Mr Francois Hollande's victory could be judged by the number of television vans outside socialist party headquarters yesterday morning, and the swarm of cameramen walking backwards as he advanced towards the microphone to make a short statement.
The socialist party leader has made modesty his hallmark. A short, round, bespectacled man of 50, he shook hands with journalists, looked tired and was almost afraid to let his joy show.
The referendum among the 120,038 party members led to a debate "of rare intensity" Mr Hollande said. The Wednesday night vote saw the highest turnout in the history of the socialist party - 82.61 per cent - and a resounding, 58.8 per cent endorsement of Mr Hollande's appeal for a 'yes' to the European Constitutional Treaty.
French socialists returned to the mainstream of the European left, and politicians from Spain, Britain and Germany were quick to rejoice. Other European socialists are already at ease with free market economics; it has taken the French much longer.
Mr Laurent Fabius, the former prime minister issued a statement acknowledging "with regret" that his side, which rejected the treaty, had lost.
The debate on the EU constitution opened deep divisions among socialists. Mr Hollande promised there would be "no witch hunt". Mr Fabius must regret having mocked Mr Hollande in the past. Mr Hollande outwitted the older politician by taking a stand in favour of the constitution before Mr Fabius voiced his criticisms.
Mr Hollande feared the referendum would divide the socialists between 'bobos' (bourgeois bohemians) and 'prolos' (the working class). Breaking with his image as an economic liberal, Mr Fabius sided with the left of the left.
The socialists lost the 2002 presidential election because the far-left believed the party had drifted towards the centre. But Mr Fabius's lurch leftward was perceived as a self-serving bid for the 2007 presidential nomination, a means of shedding the pinstripes he wore as finance minister in the last socialist government.
Yesterday's results mark a generational change in the socialist party, similar to that which occurred with Mr Nicolas Sarkozy's seizure of the right-wing UMP. There are still plenty of socialist 'elephants' (as the most influential historical leaders are known) stomping around, demanding a share of the glory - Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Mr Jack Lang chief among them - but for the first time, Mr Hollande, who has never held a ministerial post, is regarded as a possible presidential candidate.
There was talk yesterday of a contest between Mr Sarkozy (49), and Mr Hollande. The two men are so different - the right-wing Mr Sarkozy all snappy, aggressive bluster, the socialist reformer Mr Hollande somewhat plodding and humble - that French people would for once feel they were being offered a real choice.
Mr Hollande, an Énarque (graduate of the exclusive school for civil servants) has slogged away at grass-roots politics for nearly 30 years. After many disappointments, he finally won a town hall and a deputy's seat in President Jacques Chirac's native Corrèze.
He became the socialists' spokesman in 1995, and the party's secretary-general in 1997.
But for most of his career, Mr Hollande has been overshadowed by his attractive, charismatic companion, Ms Ségolène Royal, with whom he has four children. When Ms Royal served as Mr Francois Mitterrand's environment minister two decades ago, Mr Mitterrand told Mr Hollande, "Your turn will come."
Mr Hollande was criticised for calling the vote. "It is not in our tradition," said Mr Lionel Jospin, the former prime minister who remains the socialists' conscience.
The socialists' 'yes' vote is also a boon to Mr Chirac, who announced last Bastille Day that he will hold a national referendum on the constitution in 2005. Mr Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the former president who led the Convention which drew up the treaty, was among commentators who predicted the socialist vote would strengthen the likelihood of a nationwide 'yes'. The Élysée is reportedly considering speeding up the referendum, to take advantage of the momentum.