THE parliamentary election campaign officially gets under way in France today. The polls to be held in four weeks are a huge political gamble by President Jacques Chirac concerning his country's future in Europe.
After being overshadowed for the last two weeks by the British general election, the French parties were under starter's orders for a contest the results of which could potentially have a more profound impact than the election victory of Mr Tony Blair.
The size of the risk taken by Mr Chirac was underlined by a new opinion poll yesterday indicating a narrowing of the right's lead cover opposition socialists who have vowed to impose new conditions for early entry into a single EU currency.
The poll indicated that the commanding lead held by the Rally for the Republic (RPR) and Union for French Democracy (UDF) was down to 14 seats in the 577 seat National Assembly, where it formerly held an 80 per cent majority.
However, some 36 per cent of voters say they are undecided about how they will vote in the two round ballot on May 25th and June 1st, according to the new poll in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.
Most polls over the last two weeks have given the right a lead of 40 to 100 seats.
According to press reports, Mr Chirac is preparing to enter the fray himself this week to boost his centre right government's prospects of reelection.
The Gaullist head of state is expected to make a personal appeal to voters on Wednesday - the second anniversary of his own election - according to the Journal du Dimanche and the conservative Le Figaro.
The election was announced on April 21st when Mr Chirac dissolved parliament, saying he needed a new parliamentary mandate to continue economic reforms and to integrate France further into the European Union.
The official deadline for candidacies in the 577 constituencies - 555 on the mainland and 22 overseas - passed at midnight last night.
The Socialist Party (PS) leader, Mr Lionel Jospin, who has forged links with communists and Greens to overturn his party's routing in 1993 ballots, has made the fight against unemployment central to his campaign.
The party manifesto unveiled on Friday notably pledged to create 700,000 jobs for the young, and to introduce a 35 hour work week without loss of pay in place of the current 39 hours.
But the Prime Minister Mr Alain Juppe, again criticised the manifesto yesterday. In particular, he accused Mr Jospin of "electoralism" over Europe and saying he would set new conditions for France's participation in a single European currency.
"Lionel Jospin has just made a quite clear change in direction, an electioneering change in direction which would lead France to turn its back on Europe.
"That would be a heavy responsibility," he told the Journal do Dimanche.
Since the landslide victory by the British Labour Party on Thursday, both the French left and right have sought to interpret the result for their own ends.
Mr Juppe did so again yesterday, denying that the British left's success could be repeated in France.
"The British Labour Party won because they had the courage to change. The French left has not changed. They have learnt no lessons from history," he said.