Three candidates for one seat. Ségolène Royal, Laurent Fabius, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn will have to fight hard to secure the precious presidential sesame. And for that, each will need valuable support from all regions of France.
Nice Première went to meet Nathalie Audin, Frédérique Grégoire, and Patrick Mottard, who explain why they support DSK, Royal, and Fabius, respectively.
A virtual survey is also offered from today, pitting the three socialist candidates against each other.
Nice Première: Could you introduce yourself to the readers of Nice Première?
Nathalie Audin: Well, this is a bit of a challenging exercise. Let’s get started…
My name is Nathalie AUDIN, I live in Saint-Laurent du Var, and I am the mother of three children. I am the director of an association, a union official, and an activist in the Socialist Party in the Alpes-Maritimes, where I have the pleasure of being a delegate for the social economy. For the rest of the interview, I am also the alternate representative for Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the Alpes-Maritimes.
Frédérique Grégoire: I am a municipal councilor of the Nice Plurielle group at the Nice City Hall and a lawyer at the Nice Bar. I support Ségolène Royal’s candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections.
Patrick Mottard: I am the leader of the Nice Plurielle group and General Councilor of the Alpes-Maritimes. I support Laurent Fabius for the next national election.
NP: What are the reasons that drive you to support your candidate in the upcoming Presidential election?
NA: I am fortunate, due to my many activities, to be in touch with the diverse civil society. DSK offers us a renewed social democracy that perfectly matches my aspirations as a mother, an association leader, and a union official.
We need a redefined republican pact around its motto… liberty, equality, fraternity, intertwined with our leftist values… a freedom that liberates; we no longer want a freedom that allows those with money to dominate insolently or those with power to humiliate those who lack it.
This freedom must be accompanied by equality that is not only an equality in rights, which we all enjoy. In the 21st century, we need to aim for real equality by allowing everyone to start life with the greatest chances of achieving their dreams. Allow everyone, from birth, regardless of their social or ethnic origins or disabilities, equitable opportunities to realize their ambitions as children, teenagers, and young adults. To achieve this goal, the Socialist project proposes the creation of a Ministry of Childhood because it is in childhood where the first inequalities are observed, which is the landmark measure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
But it is also about securing career paths, allowing everyone, through training, to progress, to find their way to social mobility not through the emergency stairs but through a real social elevator.
And finally, fraternity, solidarity… this third element, always forgotten, even though we should be proud of being the only Republic that bears this idea displayed on the front of its public buildings. Our fraternity is realized through solidarity with the most disadvantaged… mobilizing public resources where they are most needed, in sensitive urban areas, in rural areas; proposing partnerships to developing countries, a real co-development. This is what DSK defends with a resolutely left-wing, social-democratic, European, and internationalist vision. These are briefly the reasons that justify my commitment. He is the candidate who best matches my political ideals.
FG: I support Ségolène Royal because she is, in my view, the only one who embodies a hope for change and can enable the left to win the presidential election.
I also support her because she is a woman, she embodies the hope of doing politics differently. Jospin had indeed said that for the presidential function to be exercised differently, it would need to be done by a woman (this was before SR announced her candidacy).
But also, because she proposes new methods based on participatory democracy, she offers a true renewal of the presidential function, more pragmatic, closer to the concerns of our citizens.
And finally, because for every issue addressed, she relies on a real diagnosis, lived and expressed by each person to try to find a solution acceptable to all.
PM: Essentially the issue of political experience. The President, under the Fifth Republic, is the head of state with the heaviest responsibilities in the Western world. Therefore, we cannot afford to take risks. In my opinion, Laurent Fabius has the profile.
NP: If your candidate hadn’t presented, you would have preferred…?
NA: If he hadn’t run, I would have been somewhat orphaned from my concept of socialism, of this renewed social democracy. I would certainly have turned, by default, towards Ségolène Royal. But we are in an internal campaign, and whether it’s Ségolène Royal, Laurent Fabius, or Dominique Strauss-Kahn, we share the same aspirations: moving towards greater social equality, defeating ultra-liberalism, enabling people to be freer…
As François Hollande emphasized during his visit to Nice in November, “we are sure it will be a socialist who wins.” And this socialist will have to find the resources to rally all of us behind him, beat the right, and lead the left to power for many years.
FG: She is a candidate, so I didn’t have to make a choice (smile).
PM: Definitely DSK, for the same reasons.
NP: What was your reaction after the first debate?
NA: I was very proud to belong to a party that dares to undertake this exercise in democracy, that does not hesitate to display its ideological disagreements in the open. I would like all political parties in this country to know how, like the Socialist Party, to organize such an internal debate. It seems to me that this is how our citizens would be reconciled with Politics.
FG: I was very proud of the political party to which I belong. I found the quality of the interventions very good, and the serenity of this debate reassured me.
For my part, I found Ségolène Royal very convincing. While on economic issues her opponents considered that she had no proposals to make, on the contrary, I found that she proposed many interesting reforms while remaining pragmatic and clear-headed.
I like her discourse on trust and the energy she puts into trying to restore confidence in each of us so that France can regain confidence.
PM: I made a quick summary on my blog (The Forester’s Horizon). Frustrating in form, honorable in substance.
NP: What are the local actions supporting your candidate?
NA: Section by section (or for the uninitiated… more or less… commune by commune) we go to each activist to defend Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s candidacy. We take the opportunity to listen to new activists whom we do not yet know very well and who have joined the Socialist Party with a very specific goal… to end this arrogant right that unashamedly deepens inequalities day by day.
We also run a blog “Nice with DSK” where the links can be found to better know the local and national elected official, his reflections, his works, the two working groups he leads “Socialism and Democracy” and “On the Left in Europe,” and we publish a newsletter, the very first issue of which was released last week.
PM: We are not in a classic electoral campaign context: it is within the Party and the socialist sections that the debate must engage, in total freedom.
FG: You will find all information on the blog https://cigales.canalblog.com/
NP: What candidate do you imagine for defending the colors of the UMP?
NA: I don’t see very well who could prevent Nicolas Sarkozy from running. Will he be the only UMP candidate? That’s another debate. However, the harmony that seemed to be the privilege of the UMP appears to be just an illusion… Will they go as far as division? There’s nothing to say, although “alternative candidates” on the right have difficulty credibly establishing themselves in public opinion. To sum up… certainly Nicolas Sarkozy, but with weak momentum given a chiraquie evidently still very active.
PM: I don’t see how the UMP can appoint anyone other than Nicolas Sarkozy (there isn’t anyone…). It’s both his strength and his weakness.
FG: I think Sarkozy will be the UMP representative for the Presidentials.
NP: Lastly, when do you hope for the next municipal elections?
NA: As late as possible… it would be a shame for the municipal debate to be overshadowed by the presidential and legislative elections. We know that after the presidential elections, what interests citizens the most will be the municipal elections because they directly concern their daily concerns.
PM: It doesn’t matter. We will be ready.
FG: We will know soon enough to prepare properly.
