''THE most stupid right wing in the world'' is an old insult, frequently applied with a masochistic touch of humour to France's divided and scrappy conservative parties. A couple of weeks ago, in an attempt to drum up public support, the Gaullist RPR party even brought out a poster on the theme, showing figures from the cartoon books of Asterix the Gaul fighting among themselves with the slogan ''Gauls, are you sick of having the most stupid right wing in the world?''
Unfortunately no-one had thought about copyright. The estate of Uderzo and Goscinny, authors of the Asterix books protested, and the poster had to be scrapped, leaving everyone looking even sillier than before.
Despite that disastrous public relations exercise, the RPR and the group of parties comprising the UDF - in short, everybody right of centre barring the National Front - got together last week in a groundbreaking move to create a right-wing confederation, called the Alliance. It is an attempt to forge what no-one has been capable or willing to do in French politics since the war - creating a unified right-wing force able to resist both the left and the divisive effect of warring personalities on the right.
''Made up of several parties, France's right wing differs from the British version because we have a different way of looking at things,'' RPR chairman Philippe Seguin said yesterday. It would have been more to the point to say that with the presidency being the ultimate goal in French politics, parties have been built up around leaders, instead of producing them from their midst.
President Jacques Chirac founded the RPR in 1977 with the Elysee in view. Former President Giscard d'Estaing set up the UDF group. The Socialist party proved an ideal vehicle for Francois Mitterrand who had spent many years on the centre right.
The first practical move towards the Alliance happened on Tuesday, when a number of leading UDF figures in the national assembly proposed moving closer to the RPR.
Demoralised when President Chirac's snap general election in 1996 overturned a large conservative majority and brought back the Socialists, the right wing has been reeling since regional elections in March saw a handful of leaders accept National Front support to retain control of a number of provinces. It was an enormous and unprecedented sell-out which played along with the extreme right wing's policy of seducing traditional right-wingers.
There has been no end to fighting between party leaders ever since. Philippe Seguin has had a hard time retaining control of the RPR, has been criticised by party members for his systematic hostility towards the National Front, and weakened by attacks from former Prime Minister Alain Juppe over the single European currency. He is also embarrassed by the sordid power struggle going on at Paris city hall between warring Gaullists. Worst of all, perhaps, collusion with the far right in March created a ground swell of sympathy for deals with the National Front among ordinary conservative voters frustrated by the eternal inability of the right wing to form a strong, coherent opposition.
Leading UDF figure Charles Millon, who refused to come back into the fold after accepting National Front support in March, has even set up a dissident movement called the Right, with clear sympathies for the National Front.
Last week the organisation of the Alliance was sorted out. It will have a chairman elected for a short term, a permanent committee, and a board representing all the different parties involved.
Most importantly, it will ''refuse all compromise with extremism'' - as clear a signal as possible to the National Front that its new strategy of infiltration will get nowhere.
Last week's move provoked a chorus of approval from all areas of right-wing opinion. The most important and elevated blessing was delivered from the Elysee and President Chirac himself who expressed the satisfaction over ''the initiative taken by the leaders of the UDF and the RPR. The creation of a confederal organisation is a response to the need for consultation dialogue and union in the opposition''.
It remains to be seen whether the Alliance will merely serve to preserve France's scattered right wing from falling apart altogether - or whether it can generate a force really capable of seeing off the National Front.
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