2014年经济学人 法国政治 罗卡尔强势回归

French politics

Rocard's return

The former prime minister's ideas are making a comeback

THE left wing of the French Socialist¹ Party was still reeling this week after the shock eviction² of Arnaud Montebourg, a populist industry minister, and his replacement³ by Emmanuel Macron, a former investment banker. Fran?ois Hollande, after all, was elected Socialist president in 2012 declaring that his main “adversary” was “the world of finance”. Yet on August 31st, in a defiant⁴ speech to party members in the port of La Rochelle, Manuel Valls, his prime minister, made no apology, reasserting the government's more pro-business line.

The most important shift taking place within the government, however, may not be the appointment of a single new young minister. It is rather the closet takeover by social democrats⁵ linked to Michel Rocard, France's prime minister from 1988 to 1991.

Mr Valls himself is the spiritual son of Mr Rocard, and got his first government job serving as the former prime minister's parliamentary attaché. In his book “Pouvoir” (Power) Mr Valls writes admiringly of Mr Rocard, citing “the force of his intelligence and the frankness of his words”. These fired Mr Valls's political imagination as a teenager and secured his loyalty⁶ for the next 15 years, as Mr Rocard, then a rising star of the left, tried but failed to impose his centre-left thinking on the Socialist Party as an alternative to the socialism of Fran?ois Mitterrand.

Rocardiens have been installed in all corners. Mr Valls's current political adviser⁷, Yves Colmou, is one, having also served on Mr Rocard's political staff. So did Sylvie Hubac, who now runs Mr Hollande's staff at the Elysée Palace. Bernard Cazeneuve, Mr Valls's interior minister, got his first job as an adviser of a member of Mr Rocard's government. Mr Macron is a close friend of Mr Rocard and invited him to his wedding.

At the same time, those on the party's left have been sidelined. Two other left-wing ministers were thrown out along with Mr Montebourg. Their departure was preceded by that of Aquilino Morelle, a confidant of Mr Montebourg and a presidential adviser, after a scandal involving the shining of lots of pairs of Mr Morelle's posh leather shoes at the Elysée palace.

“The Rocardiens have clearly won the day,” notes another ex-member of Mr Rocard's prime-ministerial cabinet. Mr Valls, who insists that the left must make peace with business, is now partly unpicking a rent-control law passed by his predecessor⁸. Mr Macron has hinted at loosening rules governing the 35-hour working week; Mr Cazeneuve has urged common-sense immigration control, echoing Mr Rocard in 1989. As if all this were not suggestive enough, there is a further link: one of the former prime minister's sons, Lo?c Rocard, now works in Mr Valls's cabinet.

1 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

2 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

3 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

4 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

5 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

7 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

8 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。