France’s ruling party scrambles over EU election list[fr][de] 

Initially planned for Marseille on 26 and 27 March, the presentation of the comprehensive party list for France's eight constituencies was postponed, then set for 28 April, and then postponed again.

A strategy meeting with the party's 72 candidates, originally scheduled for 28 March, was also postponed. Moreover, a press conference to launch the campaign at the UMP headquarters in Paris, initially scheduled for yesterday (9 April), had to be cancelled, a press officer told EurActiv.

Franck Riester, the UMP's campaign director, adopted a reassuring tone: "The lists will be submitted in due time," he told EurActiv France.

The UMP's website  fails to present a draft programme or list of candidates. Michel Barnier, France's agriculture minister, is the only candidate to have launched a website and a blog , for the list he heads in the 'Ile-de-France' constituency.

"A campaign is expensive," explained a senior UMP executive, arguing there will be ample time to conduct an effective campaign as of May.

Difficulties abound

However, Jean-Claude Gaudin, the party's vice-chairman responsible for composing the lists, admitted that there were difficulties: "In each region, we are struggling to fit candidates from each county [département] amongst the first three ones. We have to convince people not to turn up."

The fourth place on the UMP list in Ile-de-France is significant as a dozen potential female candidates could get the seat, which has been reserved for a woman (EurActiv.fr 19/03/09 ).

The French voting system forces parties to include a mixture of both male and female candidates on their lists, which can sometimes make for tricky decisions. In addition, constituencies are often drawn up across several regions, complicating matters even further for large parties such as the UMP.

"As we can be three to four elected candidates by constituency, each region is expecting to have at least one candidate at the top," explained Alain Lamassoure, an incumbent UMP MEP.

Moreover, the party is facing demands from its allies which cannot be ignored. French Defence Minister Hervé Morin, from The New Centre party, and Jean-Louis Borloo, the country's ecology minister and leader of the Radical party, also a centrist party, have both asked to place three candidates in eligible positions.

The situation contrasts starkly with that of the Socialist Party (PS) which, after months of internal wrangling, managed to present its lists at the end of March (EurActiv 01/04/2009).

Since the 2005 'no' vote on the EU's abandoned constitutional treaty, the PS has remained divided on European issues, as well as on national matters. "For us, it is infinitely easier: we are all pro-European and 'Sarkozy-ist'," said Lamassoure.

Lamassoure's case

Despite the support of Astrid Lulling, a Luxembourg MEP who recently wrote to Nicolas Sarkozy regarding Lamassoure's relegation to a distant position on the south-west list, the Frenchman is still far from assured of the third place which should ensure him a Parliament seat.

"I saw Xavier Bertrand in early March, and since then, I have had no news," he says. "I was replaced as head of European affairs at the UMP and was asked to stop campaigning until the lists were announced," he added. In 2004, Lamassoure was one of two UMP MEPs elected in the south-west region.

Luc Guyau, president of the Permanent Assembly of Chambers of Agriculture, was also approached to occupy the third place on the list, which is co-headed by Christophe Béchu and incumbent Elisabeth Morin.

Le Figaro  newspaper recently reported that Guyau had declined to run for election. But Guyau is now claiming that he "remains available", despite telling EurActiv France that he is unlikely to be elected (EurActiv.fr 08/04/09) .

During a press conference on Wednesday (8 April), Barnier, who coordinates the UMP campaign, set out his priorities: "We will not talk about institutions, but the crisis. We will show that Europe is the solution, not the problem," he said. He also promised to "reconnect citizens" with Europe. But the lists are yet to be published.