French vote poses query for Europe

The stunning and unexpected resurgence of the Socialist Party to lead France has sent a chill across Europe not only because of the rapid reversal of electoral sentiment but for what it may mean for the progress of European economic reforms and the objective of a single European currency. Four years ago the people of France threw out a Socialist administration characterized by allegations of official and personal corruption. In that election a Socialist, Lionel Jospin, lost his seat in an overwhelming rout of the Left by the Center Right. Now the reforms promoted by the right-wing President Jacques Chirac and outgoing prime minister Alain Juppe -- in part caused by the economic straitjacket imposed by the Maastricht treaty -- have been stunningly rejected.

In the past two weeks French voters, tired of Mr. Juppe's austerity program, supported Mr. Jospin, now leader of a revitalized Socialist Party, and his promise of better times, more jobs and greater job security. Mr. Jospin, despite increasing the Socialists' representation fourfold, will still need the support of the greens, radical leftists and, most crucially, communists who could exert key influence in his government. President Chirac now has to cope with that peculiarly French creation, "cohabitation" with the man he defeated in the 1995 presidential poll. On the surface it is not a recipe for harmony.

-- The Australian