EU-DIGEST: For France’s Socialists, a Breakdown in Fraternité

11/2/12

For France’s Socialists, a Breakdown in Fraternité - by Steven Erlanger

The symbol of the victorious French Socialist Party is the rose, but the bloom is off five months after François Hollande won the presidency, and the petals are blowing around.

Buffeted by a bad economy and rising unemployment, a decent but uninspiring prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, has been left by Mr. Hollande to ride the waves as best he can. But bosses are angry, workers are angry and mistakes are mounting, leaving the always disputatious Socialists sniping at their own leaders.

At the Socialist Party’s recent annual congress in Toulouse, there were complaints that economic rigor had gone too far, and that the government should renege on its promises to European allies and the markets to get the budget deficit this year to 3 percent of gross domestic product.

Others complained that Mr. Hollande’s decision to meet the target by raising taxes and freezing spending, rather than cutting it, would throw France into recession, even as growth, so far elusive, would by itself provide more tax receipts and jobs.