François Bayrou dreamed of it, Nicolas Sarkozy did it. In the name of national unity he opened up his government to men and women from the centre and the left, he adopted Valéry Giscard d’Estaing’s policy of giving the opposition a real status and, not without malice, offered positions to leading lights from the Socialist Party. The public can but rejoice that such leading figures as Bernard Kouchner and Martin Hirsch are finally being given responsibilities worthy of their talents. But what could be the real political implications of this openness?
Despite appearances, and vocabulary, it is far from the kind of ‘openness’ that François Mitterrand pursued in 1988. That was more like a genuine broadening of political alliances. At the time, the entry into Michel Rocard’s government of several ministers hailing from all parts of the UDF was accompanied by a split in the UDF parliamentary group. Meanwhile centrists formed their own group around Pierre Méhaignerie, Jacques Barrot, Bernard Bosson and, in particular, the young François Bayrou. As a result, Michel Rocard managed to get his texts adopted for a period of three years, sometimes with the support of the Communist Party, sometimes with that of the centrists; he had well and truly built a real alternative majority. Thanks to this open approach, he enjoyed unequalled popularity for three years… while postponing the most difficult reforms, such as pensions, indefinitely.
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