French appetite for socialism…

…has changed a lot since the Mitterand’s years and the party's leaders don’t seem to get it. They badly need to move towards modern Social Democracy and start embracing market economy, but they’re still light years before grasping that. Can they merge with Bayrou’s new centrist movement? I don't believe so. Can their current leadership turn things around? Don't bet on it.

My view is that Ségolène Royal was the sacrificial lamb on the French socialist party’s altar in its last-ditch stand to test the results of the status quo. Today the socialists must recognize that their “market” is gone, or at least has become too small to afford them a political majority. Their future leadership will have to radically move towards the center.