Manuel Vails, a Socialist Sarkozy

摘要

It has been a bruising year for France's Socialists. The economy is at a standstill; joblessness is rising. In December President Francois Hollande's popularity rating dropped to a new low of 35%. That of his prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, fell further still. The new team is far below the ratings of the last left-wing government, under Lionel Jospin a decade ago. Yet amid the disillusion, one Socialist defies the trend: Manuel Vails, the interior minister. In less than a year the 50-year-old Mr Vails has been transformed from a pesky, upstart outsider into France's most popular politician. The son of a Catalan artist who obtained French nationality as a 20-year-old, Mr Vails was snubbed at the Socialists' 2011 presidential primary.