It is ne er too late to emulate the British pragmatism

The case is heard. Tony Blair will lea e his position at i ty- our years, the age where many rench rulers starting their careers. Booed in Beirut, ride yesterday at Brighton by the unions, the néo-tra ailliste leader experimented with the trials and tribulations o the end o reign. "Education, education, education...". "These were three priorities proclaimed upon his arri al in power in 1997, almost ten years ago. He had other, but should be muscular and simple slogans to ibrate the Congress o New Labour. At the time, the amous "third way" o the true- alse "worthy heir to the Iron Lady" was still regarded with a certain disdain by all o the rench political class, jospinistes in mind. O course, there is something paradoxical today see Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal to compete or the remains o Tony Blair at the same time where it is pushed to the exit by his amily, midway through his third term. There are what s'interroger on the deep reasons or this sudden race to Blairism at the time where his emblem is preparing to release the rudder.

"The rance must break with the culture o the non-tra ail." "The rance must reward work", says Nicolas Sarkozy, while declaring ready to pursue a " ery strong security policy. Almost o the Blair in the text ("Tough on crime", he said). In 1997, one o the main objecti es o the champion o the third way was to place the "work are" (as opposed to the traditional "wel are") in the centre o its policy o re orm o social systems. Some obser ers already see in the President o the UMP's precursor o a orm o "third way" social-liberal rench. Used to quip "Transposed on the British political spectrum, the UMP would be le t Tony Blair", that recently the MP Pierre Lellouche in London. As Ségolène Royal, she does not hide his admiration or the results o Tony Blair in the ight against the unemployment o young people and in estment in public ser ices. In an inter iew with the " inancial Times" o ebruary 2, 2006, she wo e already praise to the policy o " lexicurity" in the imported English (synthesis o " lexibility" and "security") o the Denmark by New Labour.

or the theorist o the "third way", Anthony Giddens, the ormer Director o the London School o Economics (LSE), Ségolène Royal would be wrong to depri e himsel o blithely digging in the Blairism. E en i e erything is o course not transposable, there would be no better bene icial inspiration or a "blocked society" inward-looking like the rance o today. But or him, he was not sure that the likely candidate o PS or the presidential election is best placed to assimilate and import the art and method o the labour leader. "It might really include or nature o Blairism nor that brought Tony Blair to power and allowed to remain nine years" (1). In clear, a ter o ten caricatured and misused the Blair re ormism in the equating, wrongly, to a sort o opportunistic tailgating, the rench le t would not necessarily best to recognize the merits. And the sudden popularity o Ségolène Royal to the legacy o Tony Blair sin by opportunism and super icial.

The ather o the third way is not the only mock late con ersions to the irtues o Blairism. In a recent orum published by "Le igaro", the current Director o the LSE Howard Da ies one o the irst supported the candidacy o Tony Blair in 1994 when he was at the head o the Con ederation o British industry (CBI) analysis this renewed interest paradoxical or the Blairism as a new sign o the gap between perceptions o internal and external to a leader at the end o cycle. "We are now back to the situation type o the end o the era Thatcher, when she was enerated in the United States and elsewhere, while at home his own party was trying to get rid o it" (2).

Why the Blairism sells suddenly better export than on its own market Probably because the champion o the New Labor e en i it is now in breach o ban with part o his own amily is still percei ed, rightly, as a reno ator's communication policy. With ten years o delay, there are use ul blairistes accents, and not in ondés, in the lyrical lights o the two rench candidates on "the rance hard-working" or "the company where there will be no assistance without consideration". Posing in declared supporters o Blair pragmatism, Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal hope no doubt stand out rom any sectarianism in gi ing a "modern" image Le t to incur the reproach o the ideological zigzag or so t speech. But it would be regrettable that their moti ation ends there. Although popularity is in ree all on his own land or reasons mainly related to his Iraq policy, the balance sheet o Tony Blair does not reduce the talent o its "spin doctors". In its way and at least until the Iraq crisis, it is one o the ew European leaders to ha e reconciled the middle class with the economic and social re orms, in addressing the ight against po erty and long-term unemployment. It is ne er too late to emulate the British pragmatism.