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| Conservative and Centrist Notes in French Premier’s Blend of Socialism | |
| (about 20 hours later) | |
| PARIS — France’s new prime minister introduced the country this week to his particular brand of Socialist Party politics: more centrist on social issues, more conservative economically and more combative than the man who appointed him, President François Hollande. | PARIS — France’s new prime minister introduced the country this week to his particular brand of Socialist Party politics: more centrist on social issues, more conservative economically and more combative than the man who appointed him, President François Hollande. |
| Mr. Hollande chose Manuel Valls, 51 — until days ago the tough-talking interior minister — in the hope that his very different style could help reverse the political fortunes of the left. The Socialist Party is reeling after losing at least 150 towns and cities to the mainstream right in local elections in March and has been weighed down by the unpopularity of Mr. Hollande, whose approval ratings are lower than those of any modern French president. | |
| Mr. Valls will appear day in and day out before a nation struggling with an unemployment rate of more than 10 percent and concerns about its capacity to maintain its role on the world stage. And his first act was to deliver bad news — asking the left wing of his fractious party, and the public, to accept cuts to cherished services in the name of reducing the budget deficit. | Mr. Valls will appear day in and day out before a nation struggling with an unemployment rate of more than 10 percent and concerns about its capacity to maintain its role on the world stage. And his first act was to deliver bad news — asking the left wing of his fractious party, and the public, to accept cuts to cherished services in the name of reducing the budget deficit. |
| “Too much suffering, not enough hope: Such is France’s situation,” Mr. Valls said on Tuesday in his first speech to the National Assembly. | “Too much suffering, not enough hope: Such is France’s situation,” Mr. Valls said on Tuesday in his first speech to the National Assembly. |
| “The reality is there, and we must look at it without trembling,” he said in a speech interrupted far more frequently by boos than by cheers. He promised that he would “tell the truth to the French” and added: “Truth about the critical state of our country. Truth about the solutions that are needed. France is at a moment in its history when we must concentrate on the essential, and the essential is giving confidence back to the French in their future.” | “The reality is there, and we must look at it without trembling,” he said in a speech interrupted far more frequently by boos than by cheers. He promised that he would “tell the truth to the French” and added: “Truth about the critical state of our country. Truth about the solutions that are needed. France is at a moment in its history when we must concentrate on the essential, and the essential is giving confidence back to the French in their future.” |
| Despite the mixed reception, he easily won a vote of confidence after the speech for the Hollande government’s new slate of ministers. | Despite the mixed reception, he easily won a vote of confidence after the speech for the Hollande government’s new slate of ministers. |
| Mr. Valls — who, according to some reports, once tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Socialist Party to take the word socialist out of its name — has long endorsed a more centrist, free-market economic policy than many on the left who espouse a more centrally planned economy. Public spending accounts for 57 percent of France’s gross domestic product, the second-highest level in Europe. | Mr. Valls — who, according to some reports, once tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Socialist Party to take the word socialist out of its name — has long endorsed a more centrist, free-market economic policy than many on the left who espouse a more centrally planned economy. Public spending accounts for 57 percent of France’s gross domestic product, the second-highest level in Europe. |
| His relative conservatism was clear from the approving editorials and columns published in right-leaning magazines and newspapers after he was named. Franz-Olivier Giesbert, editor of the weekly magazine Le Point, wrote, “By imposing Mr. Valls against a large part of his camp, the president is completing the transformation of the left.” | His relative conservatism was clear from the approving editorials and columns published in right-leaning magazines and newspapers after he was named. Franz-Olivier Giesbert, editor of the weekly magazine Le Point, wrote, “By imposing Mr. Valls against a large part of his camp, the president is completing the transformation of the left.” |
| Le Figaro, a daily newspaper that often expresses the views of the French right, used its front-page editorial on Tuesday to urge Mr. Valls to “stay himself” in his new position and not “suddenly dilute his convictions.” | Le Figaro, a daily newspaper that often expresses the views of the French right, used its front-page editorial on Tuesday to urge Mr. Valls to “stay himself” in his new position and not “suddenly dilute his convictions.” |
| The choice of Mr. Valls suggested a calculation by Mr. Hollande, among others, that the country needed someone who could reassure the European Union that France is serious about meeting its financial obligations as a member of the bloc, while also projecting a dynamism at home that will appeal to voters. | |
| On Tuesday, Mr. Valls offered the most detailed summary yet of how the government intends to meet its promise to enact $69 billion in spending cuts by 2017. He called for $26 billion in cuts to the central government bureaucracy, $13.8 billion to the national health care system and $13.8 billion to local governments — an element at which many legislators on the right booed loudly, having just won control of a number of local governments. He did not specify how the remaining $15.4 billion in cuts would be made. | On Tuesday, Mr. Valls offered the most detailed summary yet of how the government intends to meet its promise to enact $69 billion in spending cuts by 2017. He called for $26 billion in cuts to the central government bureaucracy, $13.8 billion to the national health care system and $13.8 billion to local governments — an element at which many legislators on the right booed loudly, having just won control of a number of local governments. He did not specify how the remaining $15.4 billion in cuts would be made. |
| But in deference to the left and to anxious workers, Mr. Valls also announced $7 billion in tax cuts for low-wage employees and renamed Mr. Hollande’s “responsibility pact,” aimed at encouraging businesses to create jobs by cutting employment costs, a “responsibility and solidarity pact,” signaling that the government had not forgotten laborers in its effort to help business. | |
| At once an outsider and an insider, Mr. Valls, who emigrated from Spain and became a French citizen at 20, is an experienced politician. He started as a parliamentary aide and later became a spokesman for Lionel Jospin, who was prime minister at the time. Most recently, he was Mr. Hollande’s communications director during the 2012 presidential campaign, and he has a well-tuned ear for how to handle difficult subjects. | At once an outsider and an insider, Mr. Valls, who emigrated from Spain and became a French citizen at 20, is an experienced politician. He started as a parliamentary aide and later became a spokesman for Lionel Jospin, who was prime minister at the time. Most recently, he was Mr. Hollande’s communications director during the 2012 presidential campaign, and he has a well-tuned ear for how to handle difficult subjects. |
| As interior minister, his voice and face became familiar to radio and television audiences, not least last fall, when problems involving the Roma made headlines. He gained infamy in some circles, and approbation in others, for saying: “The Roma should eventually return to Romania and Bulgaria. They have a way of life that is extremely different from ours.” | As interior minister, his voice and face became familiar to radio and television audiences, not least last fall, when problems involving the Roma made headlines. He gained infamy in some circles, and approbation in others, for saying: “The Roma should eventually return to Romania and Bulgaria. They have a way of life that is extremely different from ours.” |
| His blunt language about the Roma, and to a lesser extent other immigrants, was less harsh than that of Mr. Hollande’s predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, a conservative who also served as interior minister. But Mr. Valls’s stance put him at odds with his party’s orthodoxy on the issue, one of the most emotional in French politics today. | His blunt language about the Roma, and to a lesser extent other immigrants, was less harsh than that of Mr. Hollande’s predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, a conservative who also served as interior minister. But Mr. Valls’s stance put him at odds with his party’s orthodoxy on the issue, one of the most emotional in French politics today. |
| Mr. Valls has his own presidential ambitions: He ran in the Socialist primaries in 2011 in the hope of challenging Mr. Sarkozy, but lost to Mr. Hollande. He does not hesitate to use his outsider status as a way to show the depth of his allegiance to France and to remind voters that he is not quite the same as other French leaders, many of whom attended the country’s most elite schools. | Mr. Valls has his own presidential ambitions: He ran in the Socialist primaries in 2011 in the hope of challenging Mr. Sarkozy, but lost to Mr. Hollande. He does not hesitate to use his outsider status as a way to show the depth of his allegiance to France and to remind voters that he is not quite the same as other French leaders, many of whom attended the country’s most elite schools. |
| Mr. Valls’s father was an artist in Barcelona, his mother’s family originally came from the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and he attended a public university in Paris. His wife, Anne Gravoin, is a violinist. He was married previously and had four children with his first wife. | Mr. Valls’s father was an artist in Barcelona, his mother’s family originally came from the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and he attended a public university in Paris. His wife, Anne Gravoin, is a violinist. He was married previously and had four children with his first wife. |
| Toward the end of his remarks on Tuesday, Mr. Valls gave an impassioned description of his feeling for his adopted country that also suggested long-held ambition. “France has the same greatness it had when I saw it as a child,” he said, listing the French luminaries who had inspired him, including Charles de Gaulle, the wartime leader who went on to establish the Fifth Republic and become its first president. “And this is why I wanted to become a citizen and be prime minister of the government of France.” | Toward the end of his remarks on Tuesday, Mr. Valls gave an impassioned description of his feeling for his adopted country that also suggested long-held ambition. “France has the same greatness it had when I saw it as a child,” he said, listing the French luminaries who had inspired him, including Charles de Gaulle, the wartime leader who went on to establish the Fifth Republic and become its first president. “And this is why I wanted to become a citizen and be prime minister of the government of France.” |