French Socialists seek leader, and leadership

As France's opposition Socialists start their Congress in Reims, the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby says they appear as divided as ever over who should lead them, and where.

Segolene Royal is in front in the leadership race

In a smallish hall above a trendy cafe in the north of Paris, Segolene Royal grins at the party faithful who cheer and applaud her promise to give the French Socialist Party an "unshakeable future".

Eighteen months ago, she was knocked out of the presidential race by Nicolas Sarkozy. Now she is back on the campaign trail.

And although she came out ahead of her rivals in a first party vote last week, she is coyly refusing to declare publicly her candidacy for the leadership of the Socialists.

A glamorous makeover has made her even more stylish but journalist Claude Askolovitch, believes the "all new" Segolene Royal is just old hat.

"In every single democratic country," he reminds me, "it's a one-shot thing: you lose, you go. In France, you lose, you don't go -people just don't go - and then you have this accumulation of former leaders who've been rejected by the people, who still think they may have a chance. And the new generation is just unable to oust them."

Old timers

It is undeniable that the key faces in the Socialist Party are not exactly fresh... the French media refer to them, somewhat unkindly, as the elephants.

If we were to govern now, it would be a catastrophe

Olivier Ferrand
Left-wing commentator

Ms Royal's main rivals are also old timers - Martine Aubry, the mayor of Lille, is the author of the infamous 35-hour week, and the Paris mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, has been a prominent member of the party for 30 years.

And although their broad proposals for the new party line look extremely similar, none of them really see eye-to-eye.

Mr Delanoe has recently caused uproar by declaring himself to be in favour of free markets. Ms Royal, who initially suggested an alliance with the centre-right Modem party, has now started to edge more to the left, and has insisted that economic liberalism and socialism are incompatible.

So which direction will the party take? Olivier Ferrand, director of the left-wing think tank Terra Nova, admits the party is steering blind.

"There is no clear message because there is no clear leader," he says.

Bertrand Delanoe has been a party stalwart for 30 years

"The Socialist Party doesn't play its role as an opposition party because it has no spokesman. It cannot organise its internal work on ideas. We don't have any strategy for alliances because we have no leader to impose direction.

"I mean, if we were to govern now, it would be a catastrophe because we don't have the slightest clue of what we would implement if we were in power."

Communist hope

Supporters have had enough of the bickering and infighting and are losing faith in the Socialist Party's ability to solve some of France's more pressing problems.

In Douai, in the north of France, a traditional left-wing stronghold, the credit crunch has forced the car factories to stop production temporarily, and far-left regional Councillor Roger Marie feels the workers no longer believe the Socialist Party has the answers.

I think the risk of explosion in our party is real. Its not a false threat, it's a real threat

Jean Paul Huchon
Socialist regional president

"The mood today is quite depressed," he says. "I mean a lot of people think the Socialist Party [PS] won't change anything. They think that if the PS was leading the state at the moment they'd do exactly the same thing as the right-wing is doing. Maybe the speeches would be different but the facts would be the same."

France's far left hopes to profit from voters who are disgruntled with the Socialists.

Last month a CSA poll put Olivier Besancenot, the Trotskyist postman from the wealthy Paris suburb of Neuilly, way ahead of Segolene Royal as the most credible opposition to President Sarkozy.

Other serious surveys show that this man, who openly describes himself as a revolutionary, has won the approval of 60% of French people.

Inside the Socialist Party itself there are plenty of MPs and activists who would like to see the party leaning further left and even offering an alliance to Besancenot's Communist Revolutionary League.

Martine Aubry came up with the 35-hour week

An equal number of party members argue the party needs to modernise, and to embrace the reality of globalisation and free markets.

Jean Paul Huchon, Socialist president of the greater Paris region, admits his party has an ideological crisis.

"The French Socialist Party has not yet chosen if it will be a Social Democrat party or if it will take a revolutionary party line," he says.

"But it has always been impossible to win a [party] congress being on the right of centre. In France you win a congress being always on the left side. I think the risk of explosion in our party is real. Its not a false threat, it's a real threat."

Identity crisis

Critics claim the party has lost meaning and a sense of itself since the presidential elections of 2002, when the then candidate Lionel Jospin was defeated in the first round by the far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Journalist Claude Askalovitch acknowledges that on a local level the Socialists are extremely successful, holding almost every major city in France, but nationally he insists "they are just a bunch of useless, decayed, ageing leaders".

Some Socialist members have already said they will leave the Party if Segolene Royal is voted in as leader - not the best of starts to a congress which is meant to harmonise the party behind a new leader.

With President Sarkozy rising in the popularity polls, it is clear the Socialists must agree on a way forward quickly if they are to remain a credible opposition force in French politics.