The candidates presented by the national Socialist board were unanimously approved during a 21 March meeting in Paris, following a difficult month of internal political wrangling.
The original list of candidates, proposed at a Reims party congress in late February (EurActiv.fr 02/03/09), was heavily criticised by both the party rank and file and high-ranking members of the PS leadership. In particular, the case of Gilles Savary, a well-respected MEP who was given a low placing on party lists (making it virtually impossible for him to be re-elected) caused uproar.
Savary has since stood down as a candidate and the party leadership, according to Paris sources, spent the month of March working hard to "silence the dissenters" and achieve a consensus on the final lists.
A single opponent
"If Europe divided us, that is probably because we care about it," argued Socialist leader Martine Aubry, in an attempt to explain the strains left over after the Reims congress.
Aubry added that she was not worried about the potential dissemination of votes that could be caused by the number of lists on the left. Indeed, the PS leader identified just one opponent for the campaign: French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Criticism was also directed towards the economic "liberalism" of European Commission President José Manuel Barroso.
She also called upon the European left to present a "true alternative" in the European Parliament and Commission, referring to the European Socialist Manifesto (EurActiv 03/12/08), which aims "to give a new orientation to Europe".
The PS campaign reignites a number of traditional issues for French socialists, notably the need for a new Framework Directive on Public Services and a fixed European minimum wage. Other priorities include building a "green Europe" and creating new jobs in "services, innovation and technology".
The official PS campaign and platform will be launched in conjunction with the Party of European Socialists' (PES) pan-European campaign launch on 24 April in Lille, where Aubry is mayor.
As the elections draw closer, candidates will "start thinking over strategies" to influence the outlook of the new European Parliament and Commission, France East candidate Aurélie Filippetti told EurActiv France.
