Inner Circle

Mitterrand must share credit for his victory with some of the brightest and most dedicated men in French political life. The President-elect has an inner circle of politicians and intellectuals who are not only strong personalities but also have power bases and political clout of their own.

Two members of Mitterrand's coterie have been presidential candidates. Economist Michel Rocard, 50, headed the left-wing Unified Socialist Party in 1969, winning 3.6% of the vote. Last November he tried to win the Socialist presidential nomination, then withdrew when Mitterrand said that he would run. Now more moderate in his economic views (he has doubts about the benefits of nationalization), Rocard was the top choice for Premier, whether Mitterrand or Giscard won, in a poll conducted by L 'Express. Premier Gaston Defferre, 70, the party's most durable figure, was a presidential candidate in 1969, when the Socialists took only 5% of the vote. For 28 years the mayor of Marseille, France's toughest town, he has administrative experience that should be invaluable, and is a possible choice for the Justice or Interior ministries.

Pierre Mauroy, 52, another strong candidate for Premier, has been the mayor of the northern industrial city of Lille since 1973. A third possibility for Premier is Banker Jacques Delors, 55, but he has been mentioned as a more likely candidate for an economics ministry. A key member of the Mitterrand team and a candidate for the Quai D'Orsay, France's Foreign Ministry, is veteran Diplomat Claude Cheysson. As a commissioner of the European Community, Cheysson, 61, led the development of its generous trade policy toward the Third World.

The head of the party's left wing is Jean-Pierre Chevenement, 42, who helped Mitterrand engineer the rapprochement with the Communists in the early 1970s. In 1979 he gained new power in the party by rallying to the defense of Mitterrand against the challenge of Rocard and Mauroy. Still, the all-important negotiations with the Communists will be conducted not by Chevenement but by Lionel Jospin, 43, Mitterrand's successor as the first secretary of the party.

Jacques Attali, 37, another economist, is Mitterrand's personal chief of staff and one of the few members of the group who owes his position mainly to his loyalty to the new President. Attali manages to spend part of almost every day with Mitterrand, offering political advice as well as intellectual stimulation.

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