François Mitterrand remains something of an enigma in French politics. Mitterrand was the original champagne socialist and he remains a poster-boy of the French left. But France’s former president – an adulterer, member of the French Resistance with a Vichy secret, secularist and sometime Catholic – doesn’t easily fit into any one box.
This week marks forty years since Mitterrand became president. As with commemorating the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s death, the occasion marks something of a challenge for France’s current president, Emmanuel Macron.
For others, he is the Judas of the Left
Macron, having uncancelled Napoleon last week by marking the bicentenary of his death at Les Invalides, is leaving the Mitterrand mania to the left, where, presumably, it belongs. He has a presidential race to think of and Marine Le Pen on his heels, rappelez-vous bien.
For some, even strongman of the right Nicolas Sarkozy, Mitterrand was a president like no other.
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