Villepinte, France - In an eagerly awaited announcement of
her election programme, French Socialist Party presidential hopeful
Segolene Royal on Sunday presented what she called a 'presidential
pact' that emphasized many socially liberal proposals.
In an echo of the only Socialist elected to the presidency since
World War II, Francois Mitterand, Royal told some 15,000 party
faithful in the town of Villepinte, just northeast of Paris, that she
had '100 proposals for France to recover a shared ambition, pride and
fraternity.'
In 1981, Mitterand had presented '110 propositions' in the first
of his two successful presidential campaigns.
Royal's proposals emphasized the traditionally left-wing Socialist
policies, such as increasing 'as soon as possible' the French monthly
minimum wage to 1,500 euros (about 1,960 dollars), from the current
1,250 euros, increasing 'small pensions' by 5 per cent and the
construction of 120,000 state-subsidized domiciles per year.
However, she also put forward several controversial propositions,
such as placing hardened juvenile delinquents in a military
environment and opening negotiations on the 35-hour working week, a
cornerstone Socialist Party law, 'to reduce its negative effects for
workers and employees.'
Royal had been repeatedly criticized, both by the UMP party of her
main opponent, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, and members of her
own party for her decision to hold off the announcement of her
programme.
On Sunday, she said she had waited because 'I wanted to take the
time to listen to you,' and defended her campaign of 'participative
democracy,' which involved 'more than 6,000 debates organized on the
entire French territory.'
However, in leaving the media field open to Sarkozy, she slipped
in the polls and now trails him by four to six percentage points.
The media-savvy Sarkozy was also prominent on Sunday, holding a
campaign meeting with 4,000 supporters in Paris and promising 'a new
republican pact.'
In his speech, he hinted that he would propose a euthanasia law
for the hopelessly ill because 'there are limits to the suffering
that we can impose on a human being.'
The first round of presidential elections will be held April 22,
with the second round, between the two top vote-getters, to be held
May 6.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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