France: President Jacques Chirac yesterday rejected demands for the resignation of his prime minister following the ruling UMP party's defeat in European elections.
"Yesterday's elections were disappointing for all of us," Mr Chirac said, referring to the high abstention rate. "To obtain results, a government's action needs a certain continuity over time. I don't see how that can be contested, and consequently, this is an essential reason why the government must continue its tasks."
Several opposition politicians called for Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin to resign following the UMP's poor showing (16.63 per cent). But the victors, the socialist party (28.89 per cent), dropped pre-election statements linking defeat to the fall of the government, saying only that the president and prime minister should "assume the consequences".
Mr Raffarin took solace in the rout suffered by other heads of government. "When I see the situation of Tony Blair or Gerhard Schröder, I tell myself the French are no exception," he told Le Figaro newspaper.
The election results were a setback for Mr Chirac, the Raffarin government and the UMP. Even the normally sympathetic Le Figaro admitted that the European poll "tolls the bell for a certain conception of the UMP" and called Mr Chirac's party "the sick man of French political life." The UMP is now outnumbered in its own camp. When the scores of the centrist, pro-Europe UDF (11.94 per cent), Philippe de Villier's "sovereignist" MPF (6.67 per cent) are added together, they surpass the "presidential party".
In 2002, four out of five Frenchmen voted for Mr Chirac in the second round of the presidential election, out of distaste for his opponent, Jean-Marie Le Pen. The French then gave the UMP a two thirds majority in the National Assembly, more out of fear of another paralysing "cohabitation" than conviction.
Mr Raffarin will go on national television tomorrow night to explain the reform of the health insurance system. Only then will he comment on the European election. He is expected to deplore the record low turnout (42.78 per cent) and announce his intention to forge ahead with other reforms including care for the elderly and handicapped, research and education.
After the right's defeat in the regional elections in March, the UMP rank and file grew restive. Mr Chirac resisted pressure to replace Mr Raffarin with the popular finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy, now the chief threat to the president's leadership. Mr Sarkozy could create turmoil by taking over the party when its present leader, Alain Juppé, steps down next month.
By comparison, the socialists, who obtained 31 of France's 78 seats in the European parliament, are in paradise. The disaster of 2002 is all but forgotten, and Francois Hollande, the party's leader, has strengthened his chances of standing for the presidency in 2007.
Three years with no elections is a very long time in France. The socialists will try to improve relations with their communist and green allies, who often accuse them of "hegemony", and develop a coherent programme.
The socialists are now the strongest political party in France, and they comprise the single biggest group within the Party of European Socialists.