The French “Shadow Cabinet”

Following the model of the British, the French Socialist Party (PS) announced the creation of a “shadow cabinet” at the National Assembly to track and respond to the new government. Composed of 22 members, this new cabinet will theoretically play the role of an alternative government. However, insofar as it includes all currents of the PS there are good chances that it will reproduce the internal disagreements and tensions that have been undermining the PS for a while. Moreover, some members of the shadow cabinet (Jean-Marc Ayrault and Arnaud Montebourg) will be responding to… former socialists that are now members of the Fillon government (Bernard Kouchner and Eric Besson). Hopefully, socialist deputies will spend more time arguing with the Right than with themselves.