The secretary Martine Aubry, the former candidate and former Mrs. Hollande Ségolène Royal, the mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë. There is no shortage of candidates, and the Socialist Party – in turmoil just today over the detention of deputy Guérini for fraud (and probable collusion with mafia-type associations) – is increasingly ready for a government reshuffle, which according to the opening headlines of the transalpine newspapers this morning would be more than likely by now.
In fact, these are not easy times for the French president François Hollande, who after accepting the resignation of Finance Minister Cahuzac and in full tussle over the "allocations familiales" (aid for large families) and the famous 75% tax (which, news of today, it will also involve football clubs unlike what was announced yesterday), it is experiencing its lowest period of popularity, if not almost zero, since it has been at the Elysée.
To tell the truth, the socialist leader's approval rating is the lowest ever among the presidents of the Republic in the last 32 years: they range from plebiscitary Mittérrand to Chirac and Sarkozy, not very appreciated but in any case better digested (at least at the beginning mandate) of the current mayor. Not even one out of three Frenchmen, according to the latest polls, still trust Hollande: 30%, a far cry from the feeble but sufficient 55% of 10 months ago, the day after the elections he won.
The collapse of the Elysium could therefore benefit its last tenant, that Sarkozy defenestrated Berlusconi-style a year ago with the vote and now, again in Berlusconi-style, in the "return to save the country from falling apart" version. It is he who, in addition to the electoral rejection and the cover-up of the polls - evidently catastrophic - in the last two years of his mandate (a circumstance into which judicial investigations are underway), is also at the center of the well-known story of the Bétancourt affair. But you know, whether it's in Italy or France, time always heals everything. Even bad politics and electoral disasters.
