ABSTRACT
In the 'cohabitation battle, the presidential speech was a crucial weapon. It enabled the president to intervene at will and to stand above the government and to distribute praise and blame from the 'throne'. Events during the government's term served less to animate the struggle between prime minister and president than to break up the 'plural left'. Cohabitation' did not prevent the government from governing, but Lionel Jospin was constrained by a fragile coalition and by the need to appeal to both the centre and left, and he lost on both boards. A 'cohabitation' means that the president's politics has been rejected and foreign policy in principle delegitimised, but it was presented differently: France 'spoke with two mouths but one voice'. Foreign policy, where the president was necessarily present was an area in which prime minister Jospin found it very difficult to take the limelight.
