PARIS LETTER by Lara Marlowe: In other Western democracies, people vote to participate in the decision-making process. But in France, "manifester son mécontentement" (showing one's discontent) seems to be the main motive for casting a ballot.
With 60 per cent of French people declaring their intention to "show their discontent" in European parliamentary elections on June 13th, the ruling UMP party is bracing itself for a defeat comparable to that suffered in regional elections in March. "I don't see any reason why things should change," admits Philippe Rouault, a UMP deputy from Brittany.
Despite President Jacques Chirac's sudden conversion to "social cohesion" after the rout in March, France looks likely to send a majority of left-wing MEPs to Strasbourg, strengthening French demands for a "social clause" in the European constitution. The socialists' campaign slogan is: "And now, social Europe!" They want an EU-wide minimum wage and equal unemployment, medical and pension benefits throughout the Union.
Nor has the UMP improved its chances by recycling failed ministers from the previous Raffarin government - sacked in the wake of the regional elections - as candidates for the European parliament.
Voter turn-out in European elections is always low here. In the last election in 1999, 53 per cent of French people abstained. Now 61 per cent say they are interested "little or not at all" in the European poll. In the hope of making Europe more real to voters, France will for the first time elect MEPs from eight large regions, instead of from single national lists.
The French campaign started on May 9th, the official Day of Europe. With at least 14 lists, voters could be forgiven for feeling confused. Most will fall back on the four parties who score 10 per cent or more in opinion polls: the UMP, centre-right UDF, the socialists and greens. Despite the fragmentation of the French body politic, the UMP and socialists constitute the two main parties, and the only ones who consistently win more than 20 per cent of votes.
For glamour, this election offers the candidacy of the former world champion driver and four-time winner of the Paris-Dakar rally, Ari Vatanen. Mr Vatanen, an outgoing Finnish MEP, denied press reports that President Jacques Chirac forced the UMP to accept him as a candidate. His list is challenging that of the incumbent MEP and former prime minister Michel Rocard in south-eastern France. With a courtesy unusual in French politics, Mr Vatanen describes Mr Rocard as "a true statesman, pragmatic and lucid".
The well-known French comic Dieudonné M'Bala M'Bala is standing on the "Euro-Palestine" list created by a French surgeon who has undertaken several humanitarian missions to Palestine. Euro-Palestine candidates demand an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and the sending of a European force to protect Palestinians. On May 27th - in mid campaign - the Paris criminal tribunal will decide whether Dieudonné incited anti-Semitism with a skit on French television last December.
The "sovereignist" candidate Viscount Philippe de Villiers wants to patent his credo of "No to Turkey in Europe". The French equivalent of a patent office has twice turned him down on the grounds that the slogan is discriminatory. But Mr de Villiers persisted, and a civil appeals court in Paris will today decide whether he has an exclusive right to the slogan.
French politicians sense there is political advantage to be gained from the current Islamophobic mood here, and Mr de Villiers' rivals also want to capitalise on "No to Turkey". Opponents to Turkey's candidacy include the head of the UDF, François Bayrou, the liberal right-wing deputy Alain Madelin, the extreme right-wing National Front and even Mr Chirac's UMP party.
After nine years in the Élysée palace, Mr Chirac may be losing his grip on both his party and his government. The UMP was founded two years ago to be the "presidential party".
Yet its National Council on Sunday endorsed two decisions against Mr Chirac's wishes: the 'Non' to Turkey and a call for a referendum on a European constitutional treaty. UMP deputies have openly criticised the president for retaining Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin after the right's defeat in the regional elections. In yet another setback for Mr Raffarin, the party on Sunday decided to fragment into Gaullist, liberal, sovereignist and other "currents" or "sensibilities".
The main beneficiary of the disarray on the French right is the ambitious finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who could take control of the UMP when its current president, Alain Juppé, steps down following a conviction on corruption charges. Or if the right takes another drubbing on June 13th, Mr Chirac could be forced to replace Mr Raffarin with Mr Sarkozy as prime minister.
This domestic politicking will have consequences beyond France's borders. French political parties are strengthening ties with like-minded parties across the continent. Mr Juppé and Mr Raffarin value the Franco-German axis, but Mr Sarkozy has made it clear he would give priority to France's relations with Spain and Britain.