Socialists and Greens agree to put up joint candidates, Communists join jobs manifesto

FRANCE's left wing Socialists, Communists and ecologists have concluded alliances for the parliamentary elections on May 25th and June 1st.

The Socialist leader, Mr Lionel Jospin, and Mr Dominique Voynet, the leader of the ecologist party, the Greens, yesterday announced they would field joint candidates in more than 100 voting districts. Under the agreement, Socialists will support Greens in 29 constituencies, while the Greens will back the Socialists in 77 others.

Late on Tuesday, Mr Jospin and the Communist leader, Mr Robert Hue, issued a seven page joint declaration in which they said the fight against unemployment was their "absolute priority".

If they win a majority, they promise to create 700,000 jobs for young people, enact a 35 hour working week without pay reductions, reverse steps towards privatising the state owned companies Air France, Thomson and France Telecom, and rescind the Pasqua and Debre immigration laws.

The left wing parties gave no indication how they would pay for their ambitious projects.

The Socialists and Communists have not agreed to field joint candidates, and their declaration did not say whether Communists would be given government portfolios in the event the left wins a majority.

The left's 1970s programme common disintegrated after the Socialists sacked Communist ministers in the early 1980s. The two parties have squabbled ever since.

They admit their differences, especially on further European integration, which the Communists oppose.

The Socialists are, however moving towards the Communist position on Europe. After supporting the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 the Socialists now say they want monetary union only if it can be achieved without sacrifice.

"France can and must confront globalisation and the challenges of today's world with its European partners," the joint declaration said, specifying that "with those who refuse to sacrifice the nation and its sovereignty to European construction, we say `No' to a liberal Europe, `No' to a Europe where money is king and which is dominated by financial markets".

The Maastricht Treaty must be "surpassed", the left wingers said, and European construction must be reorientated "towards a social Europe of progress, peace and security".

Mr Jospin said he prefers "a left that admits its differences, but which works towards unity, rather than a right which displays a superficial unity but which is deeply divided".

The centre right Rally for the Republic (RPR) and Union for French Democracy (UDF) have agreed on a joint programme whose key points are reducing government spending, welfare taxes and income tax.

. The far right leader, Mr Jean Marie Le Pen, hits the election trail today using the legend of Joan of Arc - symbol of French nationalism - at a rally in the heart of Paris.