Left-wing and nationalist Eurosceptic factions within the party will try to humiliate and destabilise the centrist party leadership and prepare the ground for a hard-left, anti-European coup at a crucial party conference in November.
The pleasant term "summer school" fails to convey the depth of personal hatred and political division likely to be revealed within the ranks of the Parti Socialiste (PS) when they assemble in La Rochelle for three days from tomorrow.
Since the Socialists quarrelled over the referendum on the European Union constitution in May, a vicious four or five-way battle has raged for the soul of the party and - implicitly - the main centre-left nomination for the presidential elections of 2007. There is even serious talk of the Parti Socialiste splitting permanently into at least two parties.
A number of hard-left factions hope to turn the PS into an anti-globalist, anti-capitalist and anti-European party, in alliance with the Communists and Trotskyists. If so, two of the party's elder statesmen suggested this week, centre-left reformers should be ready to form a social democratic party of the centre.
The former prime minister Michel Rocard said that the endless quarrel between the so-called "realist" and "real" Left within the PS must be settled once and for all. It would be better to split the party than to talk in endless circles, without addressing the true problems of France...."
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article307990.ece
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com