THE new French Socialist Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, plans to attend all forthcoming international summits, where he will accompany President Jacques Chirac, a source close to Mr Jospin said yesterday.
The move would be a serious attempt to limit the head of state's traditional pre-eminence in the conduct of foreign policy during a period of left-right power-sharing.
Major international events this month include a EU summit in Amsterdam on June 16th-17th and a summit of the Group of Seven rich nations in the US city of Denver on June 20th-22nd.
"It is planned that Lionel Jospin will go to all these meetings," the source said. "It is quite normal that he should be with the President, all the more so because he has to get to know the representatives from other countries."
Mr Chirac's office had no comment on the report. Sources close to the President confirmed the issue of how France would be represented at the upcoming meetings had been discussed in his first meeting with Mr Jospin on Monday.
Mr Jospin said during the campaign ahead of a left-wing parliamentary election victory on Sunday that France would speak with one voice on the international scene.
Mr Jospin is to make his first official trip abroad tomorrow, going to Malmo, Sweden, for a meeting of Socialist heads of government and parties.
He will address the meeting on Friday and hold talks with Britain's Labour Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair.
The French constitution sets blurred dividing lines between the president's and the government's prerogatives on foreign and defence policy. The president is responsible for signing treaties and upholding their enforcement and is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. But the prime minister "determines and conducts the policy of the nation" and is responsible for national defence.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party leader, Mr Robert Hue, said he had agreed to undertake up to three ministries in the new left-wing government.
Mid Hue said his meeting with Mr Jospin had agreed the number of Communist ministers the party was seeking, but declined to specify a number. Party sources said they could include two full ministers and one junior minister.
The Communists campaigned in a loose electoral alliance with the Socialists, and hold the balance of power with 38 seats in the National Assembly following the left's victory on Sunday. But they have key policy differences, notably on Europe. They are also demanding an immediate rise in the minimum wage, reductions in purchase tax and a cut in the working week to 35 hours with no loss of pay.