Najat Vallaud-Belkacem On the front line

Najat stands out as one of the most popular figures in the Socialist Party and beyond. ‘Her supporters come from the left, but also from the centre and the right’, says political scientist and professor at Sciences-Po, Pascal Perrineau. ‘This is someone to watch in the future’, says Yannick Trigance, Socialist Party National Council member. But her current weakness is that she does not have back up at the Socialist Party. She must dip her toe into the waters of the party apparatus. For the moment, the main thing is that she is not divisive, One wonders whether this an advantage or a disadvantage for this woman who is as ‘straight as a die’, so wise that she annoys many people. This woman whose favourite singer is Jean-Jacques Goldman, an artist so consensual (and, coincidentally France’s favourite personality)! ‘These young people who rise up quickly through the ranks have generally not had the time to practice a profession’, says Brigitte Theveniau, former Deputy Mayor in Villeurbanne. They have no grasp of real life.’ And some point out that Najat and her husband are the perfect ‘professional politician’ couple, as last November Boris was appointed Deputy Secretary General of the Élysée Palace! Has the little one grown up too fast in the protective shade of Ségolène Royal and François Hollande?What are her key ideas for France?
What if this sleek profile was the dark side of Vallaud-Belkacem’s strength? That’s the question some in the Socialist Party are asking themselves. In 2012, she wanted to abolish prostitution. But when controversy reared its ugly head, she backed down. Not a cross word either when Manuel Valls declared his opposition to the legalisation of surrogacy, while she was in favour from the time she wrote a report on the laws of bioethics for the Socialist Party. The same discretion was evident when, last June, the revolt by Socialist Group MPs broke out, in the face of social liberalism supported by the Élysée Palace and Matignon. Radio silence or almost, when, in August, the Economy Minster, Arnaud Montebourg, raised his voice against the President. On this point, forgetting that Najat has never been a troublemaker on the party’s left wing, was she not originally shoulder-to-shoulder with Dominique Strauss-Kahn for the 2006 primaries? She learned, through the failure of Ségolène in 2007, how division could be fatal; she would be the worthy spiritual daughter of Hollande – pragmatic, always looking for synthesis, however weak, at all costs. But where are her key ideas for France? For Gérard Collomb, Mayor of Lyon, it’s clear: ‘She knows less about producing then selling.’ Guillaume Bachelay, Socialist MP, comes to her rescue: ‘Politics is as much about the message as the image, so we must develop a policy line. Najat will build it in time...We do not have to put pressure on her: ‘Become a new Jaurès”. Let’s be calm!’

The Minister of Education will take her place in the current political scene, in the eyes of Pascal Perrineau, ‘the problem with this political generation is that it is shedding its ideologies. Post ’68, at times we said any old thing but there was a real debate of ideas. All that’s now finished. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem must exist by herself ideologically, outside of government, as the current situation requires imaginative responses. How do we get out of the welfare state? What do we think about globalisation of the world? Ecological transition? A sacred challenge, yes but now, since the latest attacks, will she not add a different dimension?

By JEAN-MICHEL DENIS