Last Wednesday, Dominique Strauss Kahn was in Nice to refine his candidacy for the nomination in the upcoming presidential election. He who wishes for “France to regain hope” is certain of one thing: he will not be a candidate in the future municipal elections in Nice.
Nice Première was keen to learn more about the candidate who appears to be neck and neck with the highly publicized Ségolène Royal for the 2007 Socialist Party presidential nomination.
Nice Première: Dominique Strauss Kahn, tell us about your book and your 365 days against resignation?
Dominique Strauss Kahn: For several months, I have proposed and advocated to meet the demands of the French people: this book summarizes my solutions to the concrete problems of our fellow citizens, my vision of a fair France, my concept of a renewal for France. I wanted to demonstrate how day after day one could assert a political will against resignation.
NP: According to you, what must be abandoned to create a better France?
DSK: Abandon the resignation. It’s that disease of inevitability that leads politicians to throw in the towel in the face of the challenges of the modern world, in the face of inequalities and injustices. A better France is a just France. For that, we must not resign ourselves; we need to innovate, invent the left of tomorrow, the one that will oppose real equality to new inequalities; the one that will create security in professional paths, the one that will know how to combine economic dynamism and social justice. In short, a true left of its time that rejects both resignation and immobility.
NP: What do you think about the current polls on the next presidential elections?
DSK: Today’s polls do not make tomorrow’s elections. On the left, we must not forget this lesson taught by the Fifth Republic. I am not a forecaster, fixated on polls, but a political actor immersed in the everyday reality of the French. I am wary of chronicles of an announced victory. It’s this kind of thinking that causes one to forget to fight the battle, to excuse oneself from preparing the alternative and in the end, to lose. The urgency for the socialists is to build an alternative to the policies of the Chirac-Sarkozy-De Villepin trio, to address the problems of globalization.
NP: What is your sentiment on the Clearstream affair?
DSK: It’s a disaster. And as if that wasn’t enough, the President has just granted a pardon to a man from his clan in another case, Guy Drut. There is a total lack of political and moral responsibility from our leaders and our European partners view us as an underdeveloped country in terms of democracy. I do not accept this. Here too, deep renovation is needed.
NP: You were in Nice on Wednesday, May 31, what were the reasons for this?
DSK: I was in Nice to debate our project with the socialist activists. Indeed, I believe it should not be a project written from above, but one that is nourished by the remarks, criticisms, and ideas of our members. You know, I enjoy this contact with our activists, debating, exchanging: debate is what enriches our party.
NP: Do you know the city of Nice and its region well?
DSK: Quite well, yes. I did all my secondary studies at the Albert 1er high school in Monaco and Nice, as well as the hinterland, is part of my youth.
NP: A major local daily had declared you a candidate for the next municipal elections in Nice. What is your opinion on this statement?
DSK: It’s an unfounded rumor. I am a candidate for another fight, and the socialists of Nice have within their ranks the talent to lead this municipal battle. Moreover, I remain loyal to Sarcelles and its inhabitants who have trusted me for more than ten years. This anchor in the reality of working-class neighborhoods is very important to me to understand the reality of inequalities in today’s France.
NP: In your opinion, what is lacking for the left in Nice to win the Mayor’s office?
DSK: The battle of Nice will be difficult, but I am convinced that, this time, the left can win. The electoral results of recent years have shown it. For this, the socialists of Nice must choose their candidate, the best to beat the right, but they must especially prepare an alternative project to that of the right in Nice. Finally, they will need to unite.
NP: Finally, in your opinion, who will be the PS candidate for the 2007 presidential election?
DSK: The campaign will focus on employment, purchasing power, precarity, and inequalities: it will be necessary to show how we can provide, in a credible way, responses to these questions in today’s world, that is, in a globalized economy. I believe I am not the least well-placed for this.
