All-powerful French Socialist Party in 2012

[big bad fab]

It will really be difficult to pick ministers in 2012, when a Socialist will be Président de la République, believe me !

It's already difficult to try to think of an entirely Socialist cabinet, so imagine if you have to include Greens, Mélenchon, some communists or leftists, some centrists or members of "civil society", etc.

Let's try with an entirely Socialist power:

President of the Republic: Dominique Strauss-Kahn

President of the Senate: Catherine Tasca
President of the National Assembly: Elisabeth Guigou

First secretary of the Socialist Party: Martine Aubry

Prime minister: François Hollande

Ministers of State:
Foreign Affairs: Laurent Fabius
Environment, Equipment: Ségolène Royal

Ministers:
Justice: Marylise Lebranchu
Defense: Jean-Louis Bianco
Treasury, Economy, Business: Michel Sapin
Budget, State reform: Pierre Moscovici
Home and Security: Jean-Marc Ayrault
Education: Vincent Peillon
Labour, Pensions: Manuel Valls
Social Affairs, Social Cohesion: Marisol Touraine
Health: Jean-Marie Le Guen
Agriculture: Jean-Yves Le Drian
Culture, Communication: Arnaud Montebourg

Vice-Ministers:
European Affairs: Claude Bartolone
Overseas Territories: Julien Dray
Parliamentary Affairs: Jean-Christophe Cambadélis
Local Government: Alain Rousset
Higher Education, R&D: François Rebsamen
Youth and Sports: Harlem Désir
Cooperation: Christian Paul

Secretaries of State:
Civil Service: Bruno Le Roux
Urban Development: Michel Destot
Employment: Pierre-Alain Muet
Industry: Guillaume Bachelay
Transports: Jérôme Cahuzac
Housing; Alain Claeys
Small Business, Trade, Crafts, Services: Guillaume Garot
Consumption, Tourism: Gaëtan Gorce
Foreign Trade: Catherine Trautmann
Family, Children: Sandrine Mazetier
Women's Rights: Laurence Rossignol
Elderly, Disabled People: Aurélie Filippetti
Sea, Fisheries: Jean-Jacques Urvoas
Veterans: François Lamy
Country Planning: François Patriat

I haven't taken into account men-women and territorial balances...
I have taken a bias that leftists of the PS mostly stay within the party. So Hamon isn't a minister...

And as you have to put Fabius in, Védrine stays out.
And many former ministers stay out, like Delebarre, Queyranne,...
Many local and grumbling bigwigs too: Collomb, Masseret, Percheron,...

What do you think ?

[Antonio the Sixth]

I've heard of a deal between Aubry and DSK so that the one who becomes president appoints the other as PM. Though it probably would work better with Aubry/DSK than with DSK/Aubry.

[big bad fab]

Yeah, I know, but it wouldn't be in DSK's interest I think.
If he's candidate and if he wins, he should try to make all the harsh decisions quickly. And Hollande would be fine for that .

Well, my list is really for fun.
Royal being a minister here, under DSK and Hollande, wow !

What's amazing is that you've got all those potential presidential candidates in the same government. That would be very funny, really .

And you've got all the Duflot, Cochet, Pierre Laurent, Mélenchon, Baylet, Hulot, etc to put in... OMG !

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yeah, sure you really have a lot of people to put in...

[big bad fab]

That's not very original to say this, but, after all, maybe many candidates to primaries are candidates ONLY to be sure to have some portfolio...
Because competition will be so hard that they have to try to get some guarantee !

Even Royal may have this reason as her main one (I'm not sure, as she's first... mad).
Even a more reasonable Montebourg (like nowadays) may have only this in mind.
Even egocentric Valls.

The only true candidates are DSK, Aubry and Hollande.


I'm really wondering who will be Home minister and who will be Defense minister ?

There is no longer great specialists of Defense in the French PS, except small sideline politicians. Of course, you may argue that, after Hervé Morin, ANYbody can be Defense minister in France...

As for Home minister, Julien Dray wants it, but his recent "affairs" may well preclude a socialist president to appoint him in this post. And Bruno Le Roux or Jean-Jacques Urvoas are completely unknown.
I think a generalist like Ayrault would be a good choice, but I'm not totally convinced.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I think at least Royal really wants it. You might be right for Montebourg and Valls, though the second might be longing for 2017 or 2022.

[Hash]

A lot would depend on the circumstances of the primary: who is a candidate, in this case how does DSK win. Does he have a lot of people to thank? Does he have a faction to please? This would result in one faction having more weight than another, and so forth.

I won't attempt a list of my own, but presumably Manuel Valls would be given some more useless portfolio given that giving the Labour portfolio to a member of the Right would probably piss off a lot within the party. And perhaps Cambadélis, Trautmann (even if she's a bit out now) and others would be given some higher portfolios due to their loyalty to DSK.

And yeah, it's inevitable that other left-wing parties would be included. The Greens would throw a hissy fit if they were left out and would probably get a major portfolio and a few chair-filling ones. I don't know if Duflot would be in cabinet, given that despite her good looks, she doesn't seem to be "ministeriable" right now. Probably Cochet would get something, and some other Green Senator or MEP.  

I know the PRG are currently playing the whoring (or "ZOMGZ WE ARE A REAL PARTY GUYZ THIS IS NO FAIR U DONT LIKE US MWAAAAAA") game they exist for, but they'll inevitably come around to licking PS ass as they've done since their foundation. And thus get some useless portfolio. Without Zuccarelli and Schwartzenberg, their caucus is mostly a bunch of noobs nobody knows about, but surely they will get something. But if there is a God, please, please keep out that b**ch Taubira, please, for the love of God.

Mélenchon I'm not sure about given that he seems to be following the Komintern's pre-1936 line of no alliances with bourgeois parties, last I heard, and being in government would probably require him to stop talking and that is, in his case, a big no-no. And the PG has nobody else besides him. Presumably the PCF would get something, probably some useless portfolio given to Laurent or some other dude.

Given that the latest trend is to put some outdaded "societe civile"/"vie associative" clowns in government, surely the PS would throw a few in. Maybe a bunch of outdated dying centrists could get something, but probably not.

Maybe a PS government, given that the PS seems very big on the "social" rhetoric, would create some sort of big "social" state ministry or something. Environment, yeah, would be a major portfolio and could be given to a Greenie if they're really bitchy about it.