Efforts by France’s beleaguered Socialists to find a saviour descended into farce last night amid reports that two contenders to succeed President Hollande had failed to pay their party membership fees.
Vincent Peillon, 56, an Hollande loyalist who put himself forward this week to run in the party’s presidential primary, admitted he owed €19,000. Mr Peillon was exposed by foes in the party as having paid nothing since he was sacked as education minister in 2014.
The scandal spread as the Socialist parliamentary group’s treasurer said that Arnaud Montebourg, the leading left-wing contender, had failed to pay his dues between 2007 and 2014 and owed €49,322. Mr Montebourg angrily denied the allegation, which he dismissed as an attempt to discredit him.
The row illustrated the poisonous mood within the ruling Socialist Party after Mr Hollande’s announcement that he would not seek a second term.
Mr Peillon promised to settle the debt before today’s deadline for entry against at least eight other candidates in a two-round primary contest next month. He said of those who had informed on him: “I want a beautiful debate of ideas, not an exchange of stink bombs.”
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Mr Peillon, an MEP and university lecturer, has been absent from Paris politics for nearly three years, teaching philosophy in Switzerland and attending the European parliament. But he has sought to rally the Socialist centre against Manuel Valls, who was prime minister until last week.
Though generally unpopular — he was once nicknamed the snake by Mr Hollande — Mr Peillon has won support from “Hollande orphans”, the mainstream party barons who have lost their bearings since the president decided two weeks ago not to seek a second term. “The primaries are a machine to produce unity,” said Mr Peillon. “I want to be the candidate who brings everyone together.”
There was little sense of unity, however, as Christian Bataille, the parliamentary party group treasurer, accused Mr Montebourg of ignoring repeated requests to settle his debt. “I can only moan, I can’t send him the bailiffs,” Mr Bataille said.
Mr Montebourg responded by saying that he was the victim of a plot to tarnish his reputation. His spokesman said he had paid €52,415 in fees between 2007 and 2012 and owed nothing. The money had gone to his constituency party and not the national headquarters, he said.
Both Mr Peillon and Mr Montebourg suspect that the claims are being orchestrated by Mr Valls, who is resented by the left of the party for his government’s business-friendly reforms.
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Mr Valls has failed to win the backing of Mr Hollande and key ministers, although he is the most popular Socialist candidate with the public. No poll, however, has suggested that he could survive the first round of the election in April. The presidential run-off is expected to come down to François Fillon, the former prime minister who defeated Nicolas Sarkozy in the Republicans’ primary, and Marine Le Pen of the anti-immigration National Front.