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| Ségolène Royal is back – and François Hollande has a new problem | Ségolène Royal is back – and François Hollande has a new problem |
| (8 days later) | |
| French politicians rarely throw in the towel, even after the most crushing and humiliating of defeats. Instead, they mostly spend their time in the political wilderness busily plotting their return to public life. | French politicians rarely throw in the towel, even after the most crushing and humiliating of defeats. Instead, they mostly spend their time in the political wilderness busily plotting their return to public life. |
| And so Ségolène Royal, the former presidential candidate – who failed to become leader of the Socialists, was trounced in her attempt to become the party's 2012 presidential candidate and failed to gain a seat in parliament at the last election – emerged last week from almost a year of seclusion to publicise her new book (and let it be known she is looking for a government job). | And so Ségolène Royal, the former presidential candidate – who failed to become leader of the Socialists, was trounced in her attempt to become the party's 2012 presidential candidate and failed to gain a seat in parliament at the last election – emerged last week from almost a year of seclusion to publicise her new book (and let it be known she is looking for a government job). |
| For President François Hollande, Royal's former partner and father of her four children, who is facing recession, soaring unemployment and plunging popularity, the main and pressing priority, as one French website described it, is to persuade the French that "there's a pilot in the plane". The thorny problem of what to do about Ségolène is one he does not need. | For President François Hollande, Royal's former partner and father of her four children, who is facing recession, soaring unemployment and plunging popularity, the main and pressing priority, as one French website described it, is to persuade the French that "there's a pilot in the plane". The thorny problem of what to do about Ségolène is one he does not need. |
| Just 24 hours after Royal, 59, released her book, This Beautiful Idea of Courage, last Wednesday, Hollande in effect ruled out a return to government for the former family minister. He told a press conference that he had no plans for a reshuffle in the immediate future. | Just 24 hours after Royal, 59, released her book, This Beautiful Idea of Courage, last Wednesday, Hollande in effect ruled out a return to government for the former family minister. He told a press conference that he had no plans for a reshuffle in the immediate future. |
| Royal responded in Le Monde: "There's a need to always be moving, especially when everyone is expecting a second breath. Also, it's no secret to anyone there are domains where a reshuffle is necessary, like, for example, the vast galaxy at the ministry of finance." | Royal responded in Le Monde: "There's a need to always be moving, especially when everyone is expecting a second breath. Also, it's no secret to anyone there are domains where a reshuffle is necessary, like, for example, the vast galaxy at the ministry of finance." |
| The finance ministry is headed by Pierre Moscovici, who in 2008 said: "There are people who detest Ségolène Royal even in the Socialist party." | The finance ministry is headed by Pierre Moscovici, who in 2008 said: "There are people who detest Ségolène Royal even in the Socialist party." |
| The Ségolène problem is complicated by the fact that it is not just political but personal. Only weeks after he entered the Elysée, Hollande, 58, suffered his first damaging setback – and considerable ridicule – when first lady Valérie Trierweiler, 48, used her Twitter account to support Royal's rival in the June 2012 legislative elections. Trierweiler was said to have acted in a fit of jealousy. | The Ségolène problem is complicated by the fact that it is not just political but personal. Only weeks after he entered the Elysée, Hollande, 58, suffered his first damaging setback – and considerable ridicule – when first lady Valérie Trierweiler, 48, used her Twitter account to support Royal's rival in the June 2012 legislative elections. Trierweiler was said to have acted in a fit of jealousy. |
| Royal told France 5 television last week: "You know in life when one is betrayed, when someone hurts you, gratuitously to boot, when it's fierce, when it's violent, if one wants to survive it, you have to forgive. But forgiving is one thing, forgetting is another. | Royal told France 5 television last week: "You know in life when one is betrayed, when someone hurts you, gratuitously to boot, when it's fierce, when it's violent, if one wants to survive it, you have to forgive. But forgiving is one thing, forgetting is another. |
| "You have to go forward. Those who remain resentful, who are eaten up with internal resentment, you can see it in their face, in their behaviour. I have never let myself be eaten up by resentment or vindictiveness." | "You have to go forward. Those who remain resentful, who are eaten up with internal resentment, you can see it in their face, in their behaviour. I have never let myself be eaten up by resentment or vindictiveness." |
| In January, Royal was appointed vice-president of the new Banque Publique d'Investissement. The glossy celebrity magazine VSD called it Operation Comeback Ségo, but soon afterwards she fell out with the bank's president, Nicolas Dufourcq, and their relationship is now described as "complicated". | In January, Royal was appointed vice-president of the new Banque Publique d'Investissement. The glossy celebrity magazine VSD called it Operation Comeback Ségo, but soon afterwards she fell out with the bank's president, Nicolas Dufourcq, and their relationship is now described as "complicated". |
| As the French magazine Marianne commented: "Politicians don't die – certainly not in France – certainly not Ségolène Royal ... so Ségolène Royal is coming back. But to go where? Each time it's the same question. Ministers are saying, 'She wants a position, that's for sure. But what position?'... Royal still and always provokes the same irrationality." | As the French magazine Marianne commented: "Politicians don't die – certainly not in France – certainly not Ségolène Royal ... so Ségolène Royal is coming back. But to go where? Each time it's the same question. Ministers are saying, 'She wants a position, that's for sure. But what position?'... Royal still and always provokes the same irrationality." |
| The magazine added: "Royal is useful. Very useful. Even if many find her just as 'unbearable' as always. Firstly because the criticisms she voices against the left in power, which started at the beginning of the promotion of her book, are absolutely fair … she knows how to point the finger at the failings of the government and the head of state." | The magazine added: "Royal is useful. Very useful. Even if many find her just as 'unbearable' as always. Firstly because the criticisms she voices against the left in power, which started at the beginning of the promotion of her book, are absolutely fair … she knows how to point the finger at the failings of the government and the head of state." |
| Royal's book is more anodyne, focusing on 15 personalities from whom she says she has gained inspiration, including Nelson Mandela, Stéphane Hessel and François Mitterrand – people who, she wrote, had suffered challenges but "pulled themselves back up". She has taken care not to overtly criticise Hollande, nor does the book refer to her own political aspirations. | Royal's book is more anodyne, focusing on 15 personalities from whom she says she has gained inspiration, including Nelson Mandela, Stéphane Hessel and François Mitterrand – people who, she wrote, had suffered challenges but "pulled themselves back up". She has taken care not to overtly criticise Hollande, nor does the book refer to her own political aspirations. |
| Peter Gumbel, an author and lecturer at the Paris Institut d'Etudes Politiques – known as Sciences Po – whose book on the French ruling class, France's Got Talent: the Woeful Consequences of French Elitism, was also published last Wednesday, is sure Royal will bounce back. "She's clearly a member of an institutional caste whose members, particularly at the top end, are guaranteed a job even if they completely mess up. I see from her CV she was once an au pair, and I'm sure she was a good one, but she's not qualified for anything else," Gumbel said. | Peter Gumbel, an author and lecturer at the Paris Institut d'Etudes Politiques – known as Sciences Po – whose book on the French ruling class, France's Got Talent: the Woeful Consequences of French Elitism, was also published last Wednesday, is sure Royal will bounce back. "She's clearly a member of an institutional caste whose members, particularly at the top end, are guaranteed a job even if they completely mess up. I see from her CV she was once an au pair, and I'm sure she was a good one, but she's not qualified for anything else," Gumbel said. |
| "If you're a member of this institutional caste, you don't go quietly into the night. Just when you think you've got rid of them, they bounce back." | "If you're a member of this institutional caste, you don't go quietly into the night. Just when you think you've got rid of them, they bounce back." |
| Royal's eulogy in her book of Mitterrand, the former Socialist president, perhaps best sums up her philosophy: "The courage of François Mitterrand was to have never considered any defeat, any reversal of fortune, as definitive." | Royal's eulogy in her book of Mitterrand, the former Socialist president, perhaps best sums up her philosophy: "The courage of François Mitterrand was to have never considered any defeat, any reversal of fortune, as definitive." |
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