It's most definitely not "a man's world" in the race to be mayor of Paris

The French will go to the polls again next year.

No, it won't be a snap parliamentary election called by the president, François Hollande, although the governing Socialist party will undoubtedly be keeping a close eye on the results.

Rather, up and down the country, folk will be choosing mayors and local councillors in the municipal elections.

Oh yes, and if everyone isn't suffering from complete voting fatigue, they'll be able to do it all over again in the European parliamentary elections a couple of months later.

(This might be a good point at which to remind everyone to register and all EU citizens resident here can vote in both).

Anyway, there'll be a great deal of media attention focussed on what happens in Paris next March.

It's not just because the position of mayor of the capital is for some reason "apparently" perceived as a springboard to presidency of the country ("apparently" because in reality only one person in recent history who held the post, later went on to become president - Jacques Chirac).

But also because it's undeniably high profile and prestigious.

The current mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, has been in the job since 2001, but he has ruled out running for a third term, perhaps with more than one eye on entering the national government...should the call come.

So the race is open as to who might succeed him.

His Socialist party has already nominated its official candidate, Delanoë's number two at the moment, Anne Hidalgo.

Anne Hidalgo (screenshot Canal + "La Matinale")

The centre-right opposition Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) is set to hold a primary to choose its candidate, and the choice looks to be a straight one between Rachida Dati and Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet (NKM).

For Jean-Louis Borloo's centrist/centre-right (how confusing) Union des démocrates et indépendants, (Union of Democrats and Independents, UDI), Rama Yade, the former junior minister for human rights under Nicolas Sarkozy, is the person thought most likely to stand.

The current housing minister, Cécile Duflot, is contemplating standing for Europe Écologie – Les Verts (Europe Ecology – The Greens) as is Marielle de Sarnez for the centrist party Mouvement démocrate (Democratic Movement, MoDem).

Yes, in all likelihood the next mayor of Paris - in case you hadn't already noticed - will be a woman.

But which one?

And will the battle for office be any...er...different to those that have gone before?

"Softer or gentler" just because it'll be between women?

That would be forgetting that the race is, above all else, a political one.

In all probability (not too much neck being stuck out here) the second-round run-off will be between Hidalgo (currently leading in the polls) and NKM.

But that's certainly not how Dati wants things to pan out.

And she might have an unusual political "ally".

Hidalgo.

Remember the UMP still has to choose its candidate in a primary. And Dati isn't going to give up without a fight.

Dati, a former justice minister and currently a member of the European parliament likes to emphasise her "base" in Paris.

She's mayor of the seventh arrondissement, a safe UMP seat she contested (and unsurprisingly won) in 2008. So that choice bit of party parachuting presumably makes her "Parisian" - in touch with the needs and aspirations of those living there.

Well more so than her opponent in the UMP primary NKM, who has only been an elected representative for a constituency in (horror upon horrors) the outer suburbs of Paris (Essonne, to be exact) since 2002 and mayor of Longjumeau (also in the 'burbs") since 2008.

Now this is where Hidalgo steps in.

Reading between the lines it could be said that Hidalgo would rather have Dati as the UMP's candidate than NKM because, according to opinion polls, beating her would simply be easier.

Why else would she invite Dati and not NKM to join her in the first official debate (on Wednesday)?

"I like debating and it just so happens that we both hold elected positions in Paris (no dig at NKM of course) and are two women with strong convictions able to give their "visions" for the city's future," she told Canal +.

"We've had many discussions in the past and of course don't agree," continued Hidalgo, denying that she was somehow favouring Dati's candidacy over NKM's.

Jean-Marc Germain (screenshot Canal + "La Matinale")

But wait. What was it that a certain member of parliament said on camera just a day ago when asked for his opinion on who would make the better UMP candidate?

"It's not really my place to give advice to the opposition, but if I were, it would be to choose a candidate who's already involved in local politics here in Paris," Jean-Marc Germain said.

"Rachida Dati is someone who has fought to get where she is, and nothing has been handed to her on a plate. It think that's an admirable quality," he continued.

And when asked which UMP candidate he and his wife preferred, Germain answered, "We prefer her (Dati) because she's more involved in local politics in Paris."

Oh yes.

Germain's wife?

Anne Hidalgo.

La Matinale du 17/04 - Part. 1 Les Unes du jour

Rachida Dati's latest front cover

When the former French justice minister and now member of the European parliament, Rachida Dati, makes the headlines in France it's hard to know whether it'll be for political reasons or because she's a - well for want of a better word - celebrity.

It was only a matter of time perhaps, but in terms of content and true to form it's rather the latter which marks her "return" with the front cover of last week's copy of Gala, showing a smiling Dati with daughter, Zohra.

And of course a photo spread and complete interview can be found within the pages of the weekly glossy, with Dati answering some personal and professional questions.

Dati, you might remember, was on paper at least, a pretty smart choice when she was appointed justice minister back in June 2007.

She was the first person, let alone woman, of North African origin to hold a top government post and she was seen as a symbol of just about everything the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy could wish for as he set about the task of "remodelling" the political landscape of the country.

But her time in office went slightly pear-shaped as her department haemorrhaged staff during her tenure, she went wildly over-budget in her entertainment expenses at a time when the government as a whole was recommending economic frugality, and her attempts to reform the antiquated French judicial system weren't helped by her personal style with her being lambasted as incompetent by many within the profession and the political opposition.

She was also mocked untiringly by the weekly satirical le Canard Enchaîné, and so long seemingly protected by Sarkozy, she gradually found herself exiled from the inner circle of ministers consulted over government strategy.

Even though she was successfully parachuted in to a safe seat for the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) in last year's local elections to become mayor of the seventh arrondissement of Paris, Dati's days in government were numbered.

And the final straw perhaps was her highly-publicised pregnancy; she isn't married and refused to name the father of her daughter born in January.

Her rapid return to work just days after giving birth to Zohra and the appearance of "business as usual" gave rise to the inevitable polemic as to whether she had "done the right thing" and a couple of weeks later Sarkozy quashed all speculation about what would happen to her political career (in the short term at least) by announcing that Dati would be running for a sure-fire seat in the European parliamentary elections in June, a move which would see her leave the government.

Dati might now be based in Brussels and Strasbourg for her job and her appearances within the French media less frequent, but she can still sell a few extra copies of a magazine.

And that's especially true when there's an "exclusive interview" and she promises to describe how motherhood has changed her life, her "painful" departure from government, possible aspirations to become her party's candidate for mayor of Paris in 2014 and more, much more (readers are promised).

But if you're hoping for revelations about the identity of Zohra's father, you'll be disappointed.

Dati is standing firm in her decision not to divulge his name.

"I'm not playing," she says. "It's my choice and our decision," she tells the magazine.

"Those that I love are reliable people."

No regional presidency race for Brice Hortefeux

In what was hardly the best-kept political secret of the week, the interior minister, Brice Hortfeux, has confirmed that he will not stand as a candidate for the president of the council of Auvergne in next year's regional elections.

He had been slated to head the country's governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) in the central French region.

But on Friday he said wouldn't after the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, had insisted that his long-term friend and close political ally was needed at the interior ministry - a job he took up in the government reshuffle in June.

Hortefeux's decision was to a great extent one forced upon him by Sarkozy, who appears to have decided that government ministers will have to step down if elected as presidents of their regions next year.

It's apparently part of an effort to prevent politicians amassing jobs, a common practice within French politics over the years as they've sought office on a number of levels - local, regional, national and even European - sometimes all at the same time

"The president has entrusted me with some very important responsibilities," Hortefeux said of his decision in a televised interview.

"Ensuring the security of our citizens and preparing how the country will face the threat posed by a flu pandemic require all my attention, and are incompatible with running for office on a regional level," he added.

So Hortefeux is doing "the honourable thing" if you like, in not standing in the elections next March - even if his decision to do so is at the insistence of Sarkozy.

The process of "accumulating terms" (and salaries as well as pension rights of course) was one discouraged under the Socialist government from 1997 to 2002 and successive centre-right governments under the former French president, Jacques Chirac.

But under Sarkozy, there has been no such unwritten rule, and it tends to depend on how politically appropriate it might be - or how much of a fuss the opposition is likely to kick up.

In fact it seems that Sarkozy blows hot and cold on the issue, depending on whether it's political expedient.

In June's European parliamentary elections the message was clear; a position as government minister or a member of the European parliament. Not both at the same time.

It was the reason why two former ministers - for justice, Rachida Dati, and for agriculture, Michel Barnier, had to step down in June after they secured seats in Brussels-Strasbourg.

Sarkozy "blowing hot" for sure and a convenient way of sidelining Dati in particular who had probably become something of a political liability on the domestic front as far as the president was concerned.

But wait, in those very same elections you might remember that Sarkozy faced a dilemma as Hortefeux rather unexpectedly won a seat to the European parliament (for more on that see here).

In the end Hortefeux declined to take up the post, mainly after being persuaded by Sarkozy - and let's not forget, he had just got his hands on the job he really wanted - that of the interior ministry.

While "hot" on the issue in terms of the European and regional elections, Sarkozy was decidedly "lukewarm" approaching "cold" in last year's local elections.

Far from it being a specified requirement of government ministers at the time that they should leave their jobs if elected to local positions, many of those who had never stood for office, such as Dati, were actively encouraged to put their names forward to boost their credibility.

For the moment though, back to next year's regional elections and the decision by Hortefeux that he won't stand.

It seems to assure him of a job in government even if, as rumoured, there's a reshuffle directly after those elections.

But the same cannot be said for some other ministers

Valérie Pécresse, the higher education minister is a candidate to head the list in the Ile de France region. The emplyment minister, Xavier Darcos, is the candidate for Aquitaine as is the health minister, Roselyne Bachelot, for Pays de la Loire.

If they're all successful, and should Sarkozy hold true to his word then there could indeed be some very high level changes in government come next March.

A new challenge for Rachida Dati - mayor of Paris?

Well if the latest report in the national daily, le Parisien, is to be believed, that's exactly what the former French justice minister and recently-elected European parliamentarian has in mind.

Dati apparently wants to be the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire's (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP), candidate for the post of mayor of the capital in the next municipal elections, due in 2014.

Yes it might seem years away, but Dati is reportedly gunning for a return to the domestic political arena.

She's already mayor of the capital's VII arrondissement, having won election in March 2008 after being parachuted in as the UMP's candidate for what was to all intents and purposes a shoo-in for the party.

And now apparently her sights are set on even bigger things.

The paper reports that Dati rang the French prime minister, François Fillon, at the weekend, and left a message on his answerphone making clear her motivation and determination to make a return to the domestic political scene.

"Dear François, I just wanted to tell you that the position of mayor really interest me and there's a strong possibility that I'll put my name forward," she's reported as saying.

"Especially as the last time we spoke about it, you said you weren't interested."

Fillon, says the paper, responded shortly afterwards with an sms saying he had listened to her message.

There are perhaps a couple of major obstacles standing in the way of Dati's ambitions.

Not least of them is the fact that she doesn't have an easy relationship with some advisors close to the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Indeed they are widely thought to be behind the distance Sarkozy put between himself and his erstwhile protégée last year.

Remember he brought Dati into the government in June 2007 as the first person, let alone woman, of North African descent to hold a top ministerial position.

It was generally seen as a pretty smart choice by Sarkozy as part of his policy of "opening up" the government and French politics to make it better reflect political and ethnic diversity in the country.

But her management skills, extravagant lifestyle, departmental overspending and perceived incompetence (from political critics and the judiciary alike) often saw her become the focus of media ridicule.

She gradually lost favour with the president to the extent of first being excluded from the so-called "G7" or inner circle of ministers consulted over future government strategy and then being "strongly encouraged" by Sarkozy himself to stand for election to the European parliament.

Granted, he was reported as promising her a return to the national scene at some undisclosed future date, but it was hard to overcome the feeling that she had in fact been pushed into standing.

Another no-less substantial hurdle perhaps to any chance Dati might have of becoming the party's candidate for the position is the decision by Fillon of exactly what he wants to do in the future.

He is also being touted as being in the running for the same job as the UMP attempts to wrest control from the Socialist Party in 2014. That party's current incumbent, Bertrand Delanoë is thought unlikely to seek a third term.

Mind you Fillon's name has also been linked to a possible job in Europe as a commissioner, or better still as the first President of the European Council, should the Lisbon treaty ever see the light of day.

But that of course is all speculation and a still a way off.

For the moment the focus is once again on Dati and, says Le Parisien, she wants to show how serious she is about remaining a serious contender for the post in 2014 by involving herself - either directly or indirectly - in regional elections scheduled in France for next year.

Dati may only be freshly installed in Brussels and Strasbourg, but that doesn't mean she's going to stay out of the headlines back home.

Sarkozy's European dilemma

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is in a bit of a quandary at the moment as to what to do with the employment minister, Brice Hortefeux.

The problem arises from the ruling Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party's "success" in Sunday's European parliamentary elections here in France.

Against all expectations, Hortefeux has found himself elected to serve for the next five years in Brussels and Strasbourg.

According to the "rules" set by the UMP itself, any minister successfully standing for election to the European parliament is expected to step down from government.

Such will be the case with the agriculture minister, Michel Barnier, and the justice minister, Rachida Dati, who were respectively number one and two on the party's list in the Ile de France constituency (including Paris and the surrounding region).

But for Hortefeux apparently, an exception to the rule could well be made.

Sarkozy's "dilemma" began after the results came in on Sunday for the Massif Central-Centre constituency where Hortefeux had been third on the UMP list.

The party actually won a big enough percentage of the constituency vote (28.4 per cent) to send three, rather than the expected two, candidates to the European parliament.

Whoops.

In steps the UMP leader, Xavier Bertrand, who, when questioned, said that Hortefeux was "needed" in government and implied that he shouldn't be required to quit.

But hang about a moment. You might be wondering what Hortefeux's name was doing on the list in the first place if neither he nor anyone else ever intended to him to have to honour his obligation (to leave the government and take up his seat in the European parliament), no matter how slim his chances of being elected might have been.

Ah well, Bertrand, came up with a rather convenient explanation for that on national radio on Monday morning.

"We knew that Michel Barnier and Rachida Dati would be leaving because we placed them top of the list," he said.

"In Brice Hortefeux's case, his participation in the campaign was not to get elected but to lend his political support to the list," he added.

All right then, so Hortefeux wasn't standing to be elected.

Now some might see that as a rather peculiar and contemptuous comment perhaps on how the French government really perceives the role of the European parliament in spite of Sarkozy's determination that the EU's institutions should be reformed and bolstered.

But there is of course a domestic political agenda at play in all of this.

Sarkozy and Hortefeux go back a long way.

A long-time friend and close ally of the French president, Hortefeux took over the newly created ministry of immigration in June 2007.

At the beginning of this year, when Bertrand stepped down from the government to take over the leadership of the party, Hortefeux replaced him as employment minister.

But most importantly perhaps is that he is one of those being tipped to be Sarkozy's next prime minister (when the president manages to give the current incumbent François Fillon the shove) and his credentials for the job would certainly be better served being based in Paris rather than Brussels and Strasbourg.

According to the national daily, Le Monde, Sarkozy has given himself a week or two to "reflect" on what to do before making an official statement, but already the signs are that Hortefeux will stay exactly where he is.

Isn't politics a wonderful thing.

Low turnout "wins" European elections in France

What to make of how the French voted in the European parliamentary elections?

Well at face value the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP), and Europe Ecologie (Greens) were the big "winners" here while the Socialist party and the centre party, Mouvement démocrate (MoDem) were the "losers".

But the most telling factor of Sunday's vote perhaps was the high abstention rate, with 51 per cent of France's eligible 44 million voters not bothering to go to the polls.

Of course it's not a trend isolated to this country, but France was one of the founder-members, is a major EU player and only last December was coming to the end of its spell as the EU "big cheese" as it handed over the six-month rotating presidency to the Czech Republic.

The overall results of the European parliamentary elections appear to reflect a general shift to the centre-right throughout the 27-nation bloc, and France would seem at first sight to have been no exception.

Indeed the results here are widely billed internationally as the governing UMP having "thrashed" the Socialist party.

And it's certainly true that the UMP of the French president Nicolas Sarkozy did well with almost 28 per cent of the votes and 29 seats while the Socialist party put in a poor performance to win just 14 seats and garner a little over 16 per cent of the popular vote.

But there were a number of factors at play and of course the interpretation put on what happened also depends to a great extent on political spin.

First up before looking at the results here and what they might or might not mean, it's important once again to look at the voter turnout.

As predicted and feared by many political pundits and politicians, it was abysmal. Just 41 per cent nationally - the lowest ever for a European parliamentary election in France.

So in a real sense none of the parties managed to convince the electorate that the issues at stake were worth voting for.

A shame really as the new parliament will have an even bigger role in shaping legislation that will have an enormous impact on the everyday lives of all EU citizens.

Still that's a message that parties in France (as elsewhere) failed to get across and indeed in the last weeks of what was, by any assessment, a lacklustre campaign, the focus was either on domestic issues such as security, or personal attacks on other members of political parties.

Simply put though the results from Sunday's vote suggest there were two big winners in France; the centre-right UMP and Europe Ecologie (Greens).

And there were of course two big losers, the Socialist party and the centre MoDem.

There's no doubt the UMP did better than many had expected, but there still has to be a doubt as to whether the result can really be said to have been a vote of confidence in the government and its policies.

Even if Sarkozy tries to use the results as a ringing endorsement of the government's policies and a springboard for more legislative reform, they're surely far from being that.

Few "European" issues were addressed during the campaign no matter how much "spin" is put on the results, and Sarkozy's domestic popularity remains low.

The other big winner was undoubtedly Europe Écologie (Greens) which garnered more than 16 per cent of the vote to finish in third spot just behind the Socialist party although the two will return exactly the same number of MEPs - 14.

The reasons for its success are probably three-fold.

Firstly, the undoubted failure of the Socialist party to overcome its internal differences and present a united front to the electorate.

Secondly the charismatic leadership of Daniel Cohn-Bendit and the inclusion of both Eva Joly and José Bové on the party's list.

In the end though it may well have been the leader of MoDem, François Bayrou, trading insults with Cohn-Bendit last Thursday that helped the Europe Ecologie do well and simultaneously damage MoDem's chances, and thus making it one of the "losers".

Before the two sparred off against each other, MoDem had been ahead in the polls and had been predicted to gain anything between 11 and 14 per cent going into the election.

Instead it has ended up with 8.45 per cent of the vote and just six MEPs.

That's being largely seen as a backlash and a reaction to the criticism there was the day after Bayrou accused Cohn-Bendit of "defending paedophilia" and being a personal friend of Sarkozy.

And Cohn-Bendit's barb that Bayrou was only interested in being president in 2012, which "you'll never be because you're pathetic," might well have had the ring of truth about it for many a voter.

Along with MoDem, the other big "loser" was of course the Socialist party.

But perhaps that's no real surprise, even to its most ardent supporters.

The party has been in turmoil for several years now and of course the infighting reached its pinnacle at the end of last year when Martine Aubry and Ségolène Royal fought a bitter battle for the leadership.

Aubry "won" but Royal never really accepted "defeat" and even though the two women publicly buried the hatchet in the run up to Sunday's election, it was widely seen as a rather poorly stage-managed and unbelievable peace pact.

In addition the Socialist party has also been criticised for failing to put across any specifically European political programme during campaigning (admittedly it was not alone in that).

Before the election Aubry had set the target of 20 per cent as a result to aim for.

The party won just a little over 16 per cent, which might not be as bad as its worst ever performance back in 1994 (14.49 per cent) but must still be sending alarm bells ringing over its prospects in the 2012 French presidential elections.

Alongside the four main political parties, there'll also be representatives from both the far-left and the far-right from the French political spectrum in the new European parliament with four seats for the former and three for the latter (including Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter Marine).

And along with the one member from Libertas France (a combination of Mouvement pour la France, and Chasse, Pêche, Nature et Traditions, CPNT) a total of 72 French MEPs will take up their seats when the next session gets underway.

Rachida Dati - set to music

It's often said that politics and sport shouldn't be mixed, but when it comes to politics and music it would seem - at least here in France - it's another matter altogether.

Proof if it were needed is the latest buzz surrounding a video posted on the Net just over a week ago; a love song dedicated to none other than the country's justice minister, Rachida Dati.

It comes courtesy of the French rapper, Dirty Dahn, and his sidekick Richie Rich, and the pair have come up with what is to all intents and purposes a (French) remake of another video posted on YouTube back in 2007 in which a young woman rather seductively lip-synched her way through "I Got A Crush...On Obama".

This time around though it's "Amoureux de Rachida" and while Dati might not be in the same league, politically-speaking, as the US president, since first appearing on the Net the clip has already received more than 130,000 hits.

The timing couldn't be better. With the European parliamentary elections due on June 7, Dati will give up her current day job if as expected she's elected.

Amoureux de Rachida
Uploaded by dirty-dahn. - Explore more music videos.

Dati, you might remember, was on paper at least, a pretty smart choice when she was appointed justice minister back in June 2007.

She was the first person, let alone woman, of North African origin to hold a top government post and she was seen as a symbol of just about everything the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy could wish for as he set about the task of "remodelling" the political landscape of the country.

But she has had a pretty tough time of it over the past two years. Even though there has been general political support from all quarters for the need for reform of the antiquated French justice system, Dati has been lambasted for total incompetence by many within the profession and her office has haemorrhaged staff.

She has been criticised for her high-fashion profile, regular appearances on the front pages of weekly glossy magazines, and being a spendthrift.

Once a close aide and confidante of the French president (and his former wife, Cécilia) Dati gradually fell out of favour, and the last straw seemed to be her highly-publicised pregnancy; she isn't married and has refused to name the father of her daughter, born in January.

Dati's now standing for election to the European parliament as number two on the list for Ile de France (the region of Paris and its surrounding area) for the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party.

It wasn't exactly a "choice" with which she appeared thrilled, leaving the domestic political arena for the European one, and was widely perceived as a decision Sarkozy forced upon her.

And Dati's lack of enthusiasm appears to have been reflected in the run-up to the election, during which she has been less than convincing on the campaign stump.

Since putting in a much-criticised appearance at a question-and-answer session at a meeting of young members of the UMP back in May when she seemed to many to have only an iffy grasp of European issues, Dati has taken a relatively low profile in the campaign.

But that hasn't deterred Dahn.

Although there has been no official response to the latest musical "tribute" from Dati herself, it's perhaps somehow fitting that a woman who has seemingly thrived on publicity during her two-year tenure as justice minister, should leave office with the words of true "appreciation" ringing in her ears with Dahn hoping maybe for a speedy return with, "J'espère que l'on va se voir bientôt."

Ah where would we all be without the Internet?

Who's bothering to vote in the European elections?

June 4-7, depending on where you live in the European Union, will see the 27-nation bloc's circa 380 million eligible voters go to the polls in what's billed as the "biggest trans-national elections in history".

Well that's the theory at least, because while there are reasons aplenty for everyone to get out there and exercise their right to vote, it's unlikely to happen.

Economic growth, unemployment and inflation might well be the major themes both the outgoing parliamentarians and national governments want to be at the centre of the upcoming election, but one thing alone is likely to characterise the vote.

Apathy.

All polls indicate that this, the seventh time EU voters will have gone to the polls to elect a European parliament of 736 members (MEPs), promises to be one with a low turnout.

According to the latest Eurobarometer survey, only 34 percent say they intend to vote, with 15 per cent saying they won't vote under any circumstances.

A recent report in the New York Times says that the European parliament itself has "gone on the offensive" in trying to encourage people to vote, but there's still little sign that the campaign is having the desired effect.

In fact the call - generally speaking - seems to be falling on deaf ears.

Given the powers that the new parliament will have in terms of the potential for rejecting or amending proposals made by the European Commission, and the influence it has on legislation affecting the everyday lives of a majority of its citizens, it's perhaps more than worrying that governments throughout the EU can't drum up a little more enthusiasm among the electorate.

Worrying, but perhaps not surprising as, again according to Eurobarometer, so few people actually know who their MEP is - 68 per cent.

There's plenty of information out there apparently. It just doesn't seem to be hitting home - not even in France, one of the founder members of the EU.

It's barely six months since France held the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, and it'll be returning 72 MEPs to serve for five years, but only 44 per cent of the French say they intend to vote, according to a recent poll published by Ipsos.

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is out on the stump campaigning, and there are some high profile cabinet ministers standing for election, including Michel Barnier (agriculture) and Rachida Dati (justice) but the enthusiasm of the electorate would seem to be, well less than overwhelming.

All right so there was a brief flash of media interest last week when the opposition Socialist party maintained that the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party was using a televised spot aimed at encouraging the French to vote, as political propaganda.

In other words the government, it was claimed, was trying to persuade the electorate to cast their ballots for the UMP, and the Socialist party made a complaint to the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA) calling for the clip be suspended.

The CSA rejected the request.

Elections Européennes - 7 juin 2009
by SIG-PM

But television schedules have hardly been dominated by stories stressing the supposed importance of the election.

And one final thing, which might just be anecdotal.

It's now just two weeks before voters in France go to the polls - and how much info has popped through my letter box?

None - absolutely nothing.

Maybe 50 kilometres from the French capital is of little interest to the parties fielding candidates.

It surely comes as something of a surprise in an election in which not only are high level candidates heading the lists for the Ile de France region, the area surrounding and including Paris, and but one that's also, so we're constantly being told by politicians, important for the future of the 27-nation bloc.

If that's a pattern being repeated throughout the whole of the EU, then there's perhaps little wonder that so few will be making the effort to cast their vote.

Bernard Kouchner a French Socialist in UMP clothing?

Ah politics is often the home of the fickle it would appear. And nowhere more so than in France, where the protagonists switch sides and allegiances almost "on a whim" it would seem - or should that read "where they perceive potential for personal glory"?

Such is the case of Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, who has finally come clean and said he'll be throwing his weight behind the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) list for the European parliamentary elections in June.

So what? You might well be asking.

Well "so something" apparently because Kouchner, although a government minister, is not a member of the UMP. And indeed his political career has been one marked mainly by his support and involvement on the Left of the French political spectrum.

Plus there's no doubting Kouchner's popularity among the general public here in France. He regularly tops the polls of the nation's favourite political figures. So people take note of what he says and does - and they seem to like it.

In a sense Kouchner's political career is typically French.

In other words he has shown himself willing and able to change allegiances whenever it has suited him and refuses to be bound by political dogmatism.

Mind you he's not alone in the world of (French) politics where individuals form alliances for the "moment" almost, find "best friends" and then "turn on them" at a later date.

There are two examples of just such behaviour from ministers in the current government: Hervé Morin, (minister of defence) the former close ally of François Bayrou, the leader of the centre party MoDem, and Eric Besson (minister of immigration).

Besson was a member of the Socialist party and an advisor to its candidate in the last presidential election, Ségolène Royal, but quit to change sides in the middle of the campaign back in 2007.

But that's seemingly par for the course in French politics and the stuff of further tales. For the moment, back to Kouchner.

Just at the weekend in an interview with the national daily Le Parisien, Kouchner said that he didn't yet know how he would vote in the elections and was waiting to see each party's programme.

Less than 24 hours later however, he had managed to speed read his way through the manifestos of all this country's major political parties and, as the satirical French website Bakchich pointed out, had come to a conclusion in double-quick time.

Political commentators mused on the fact that two of Kouchner's cabinet colleagues, Michel Barnier (agriculture) and Rachida Dati (justice) are both standing for election (they'll have to step down if as expected they are successful), and the foreign minister had "perhaps" come under pressure to make his position clear.

For Kouchner though, the decision was obvious.

"It's the conception of Europe I've always supported and one which I always hope will overcome national differences and partisan logic," he said.

"That's the concept of Europe of the government to which I belong."

By any stretch of the imagination, Kouchner's support for the UMP is something of a long path from his political roots. But there again perhaps not so much of a surprise as he's an international humanitarian heavyweight and has often been described as a loose cannon given to plain talking

He began his political career as a member of the French Communist party, from which he was thrown out in 1966, and although he hasn't always been a paid-up member of the Socialist party (indeed he isn't at the moment) he served as health minister three times between 1992 and 2002 under two different Socialist prime ministers; Pierre Bérégovoy (once) and Lionel Jospin (twice).

He was a co-founder of both Médecins Sans Frontières and later Médecins du monde (he left the former after a bust-up to help set up the latter).

In 1999 he was nominated as the first UN Special Representative in Kosovo, a post he held for 18 months.

Kouchner twice narrowly missed out on top international jobs – in 2005 when he was, a candidate for the position of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and a year later when a contender to become Director-General of the World Health Organisation.

Although he is an internationally renowned and respected figure many put his failure to land either post down to reluctance within the international community to throw their support behind an advocate for humanitarian interventions.

One final thing perhaps, lest we forget Kouchner's political track record and just in case it isn't already clear by now that he's not a man who easily fits into the mould of a party player.

Back in the 1994 European parliamentary elections he was third on the list headed by the Socialist Michel Rocard.

But how did he vote? For another party reportedly - that of that of Bernard Tapie.

So who's to know whether his public statements this time around will be followed through in the very private act of voting?