France’s governing Socialists suffered big losses in last week’s second round of voting in local elections, with the Opposition centre-right UMP claiming victory and the far-right National Front (worryingly) making gains.

The UMP captured a number of key cities, including Toulouse, Quimper, Limoges, Saint-Etienne, Reims, Roubaix and Tourcoing. The Socialists lost control of more than 150 towns and cities of more than 9,000 inhabitants; the only consolation for them is the fact that the party retained control of Paris, which is symbolically very important.

The main issue in these elections seemed to have been the poor state of the economy. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who has since been replaced, admitted the vote was “a defeat for the government”.

In response to this poor result President François Hollande announced a Cabinet reshuffle and appointed Interior Minister Manuel Valls, the most prominent right-wing figure in the Socialist Party, as France’s new Prime Minister.

It is important to point out that in France the Prime Minister serves at the pleasure of the President, he is in charge of the day to day running of the government – while the President sets policy and puts forward his vision for the country – and when there is bad news he is blamed for it, while the President gets the credit when there is good news.

The appointment of the popular Valls, 51, is interesting. Spanish-born (he obtained French citizenship when he was 20), he is an admirer of Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, is a well-known reformer within his party and is considered to be an economic liberal. He is even against France’s35-hour week, something his fellow Socialists must find very hard to swallow. The Economist actually labelled Valls a “Socialist Sarkozy” even though, unlike other centre-left politicians, he turned down then President Sarkozy’s offer to join the French government in 2007. Valls is also known for his insistence that migrants integrate within French society and learn French.

It now looks that Hollande has turned to Valls to save his faltering presidency and to change course on the economy. Hollande’s ratings in the opinion polls are at a historic low for a French President, the economy is stagnating and unemployment is as high as 10 per cent. The country’s turn to the left and subsequent tax hikes, as a result of Hollande’s victory two years ago, clearly failed, and the local election results make this very clear.

In January, Hollande had already started to change course somewhat when he announced his intention to cut public spending and reduce labour taxes.

However, his very poor showing in last Sunday’s local elections left him no choice but to announce a major Cabinet reshuffle, including the appointment of a new Prime Minister.

The choice of Valls seems to make sense; besides having the right economic credentials, he is said to be a good communicator and has tough reputation on law and order – which might convince working class voters not to switch their allegiance to the National Front.

However, the success of this new government also depends a great deal on how much support Valls has within the Cabinet and the Socialist Party. Many Socialists have little in common with the new Prime Minister and distrust his liberal economic instincts.

Furthermore, even though Hollande acted boldly by appointing Valls as Prime Minister, he nevertheless promoted a number of left-wingers to the Cabinet, no doubt to bring about a right-left ‘balance’.

This is probably the last chance for Hollande to save his presidency

Although the moderate Michel Sapin was appointed to head the Finance Ministry, this portfolio no longer includes the economy, and Hollande appointed left-winger Arnaud Montebourg, a strong state interventionist, as Minister for the Economy, Industry and Digital Development. How these two ministers will work together will have to be seen.

Another left-winger, Benoît Hamon, was promoted to Education Minister. Interestingly, the new Cabinet includes Ségolène Royal, Hollande’s former partner, the mother of his four children and unsuccessful Socialist candidate in the 2007 presidential election. Royal has been appointed Minister for Environment and Energy following the Green party’s withdrawal from the government in protest at Valls’ appointment.

Every head of government has to balance his Cabinet with ministers from across the left-right spectrum, but by appointing Valls Prime Minister, Hollande has sent out a message that indeed he wants to change the direction of the economy. He must therefore see this through, give Valls the support he deserves and continue along the path of reform and cuts in expenditure which he first spoke about in January.

Hollande must keep his party’s left-wing in check and work closely with his new Prime Minister. The French economy is in urgent need of change and reform, not only for France’s sake, but also for Europe’s.

This is also probably the last chance for Hollande to save his presidency, something he mustn’t overlook.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.