President Hollande Struggles to Form New Government

President Hollande ordered his second reshuffle in less than five months yesterday coming under pressure from the reformist prime minister to sack dissident left-wing members of his cabinet led by Arnaud Montebourg, the charismatic former economy minister.

Mr Montebourg had publicly advocated the abandonment of the more centrist economic policies, including cuts in taxes and public spending, adopted by the government in an attempt to reduce the deficit and stimulate economic growth.

Mr Montebourg and his allies, the education minister, Benoît Hamon, and the culture minister, Aurélie Filippetti, pre-empted their removal from the government by announcing yesterday that they had decided to quit.

There has been speculation that Mr Hollande’s ex-partner and the mother of his four children, Ségolène Royal, could take over Mr Hamon’s education portfolio, although there has been no confirmation of such a move and Ms Royal said she was busy with her job as environment minister.

Surprisingly, sources close to the left-wing justice minister, Christiane Taubira, said this morning that she would stay in the government. Ms Taubira, the architect of controversial penal reforms aimed at easing overcrowding in prisons by jailing fewer minor offenders, had indicated her support for Mr Montebourg in a text message over the weekend. However, in public she did not deviate from the government line.

Keeping Ms Taubira in the government is being interpreted as an attempt to shore up support on the disaffected and rebellious left wing of the Socialist Party.

The foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, could take over Mr Montebourg’s economy portfolio.

However, Mr Fabius is said to prefer to keep his existing job and government sources indicated that the economy post, created in the last reshuffle in March, might be re-incorporated into the finance portfolio, expected to remain with Michel Sapin, who had clashed with Mr Montebourg.

In mid-morning, sources close to Mr Hollande told reporters that the president wanted a “government of clarity” whose members “must behave in a manner consistent with the coherence, respect and solidarity of the cabinet.”

Mr Valls and Mr Hollande have reportedly tried to persuade members of the Green and Radical Left parties to join the government in an attempt to shore up the Socialists‘ majority of only one Socialist MP following the desertion of small allied parties.

With 30 to 40 dissident Socialist MPs -- known as “frondeurs” or rebels -- vowing to oppose budget and tax cuts, the government may face problems this autumn getting the 2015 budget passed by parliament.

Mr Valls, who is seen as a “social democrat” and enjoys a reputation for toughness, is determined to face down the left-wing of the party, which he sees as hindering his efforts to spur growth and halt rising unemployment, now at a record of nearly 11 per cent.

His centrist stance has drawn comparisons with Tony Blair, while the former housing minister, Cécile Duflot, an ally of Mr Montebourg, has compared him with the former conservative president, Nicolas Sarkozy, because of his strong views on law and order. He provoked the fury of the left wing of the Socialist Party by saying that few Roma migrants were capable of integrating into French society.

The newspaper picture of the day in France is the photograph published in today’s Daily Telegraph, showing a sombre-looking Mr Hollande drenched by rain during a visit to an island off Britanny for commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the liberation from Nazi occupation. TV and radio commentators said the image reinforced Mr Hollande’s “isolation”.

He is France’s most unpopular post-war president, with approval ratings of only 17 per cent. The popularity of Mr Valls has also fallen since he became prime minister at the end of March.

The conservative daily Le Figaro was in rare harmony with the left wing Libération, with both newspapers running the same front-page headline, “crise de régime” or “crisis at the top”.

Le Monde said the reshuffle was Mr Hollande’s “last chance” to save his beleaguered presidency.

However, the tortuous negotiations taking place about the composition of the new government indicate the depth of divisions in the Socialist Party and the complexity of the task faced by Mr Hollande and Mr Valls as they struggle to preserve their hold on power.