This article examines the relationship between partisanship and welfare ref
orm in France. France was governed by the right from 1993 to 1997 (Edouard
Balladur and Alain Juppe) and has been ruled by the left since June 1997 (L
ionel Jospin). Fiscal consolidation and welfare reform have been a central
issue, perhaps the central issue, for each of these governments, making it
possible to compare strategies across the political spectrum. The article p
ays particular attention to the ongoing efforts of the Jospin government to
anchor its social and economic reforms on the left. The government's strat
egy can be distilled into four components: 1) imposing the costs of austeri
ty on the constituents of the right, rather than the left; 2) giving a prog
ressive twist to neo-liberal ideas, such as privatization; 3) targeting tax
relief at average and low-income groups: 4) channeling scarce resources to
highly visible, progressive projects.