Italy PM tells France's Royal to embrace the center

By Crispian Balmer

LYON, France (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi intervened in France's presidential election campaign on Friday, urging Socialist candidate Segolene Royal to hook up with her defeated centrist rival.

Royal will meet rightist frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy in a second round run-off on May 6, and is reaching out to centrist supporters in a belated bid to broaden her voter base.

Diehard French leftist have recoiled at the move, but Prodi, addressing a Socialist rally via a video link, said the left and the centre had to work together for the sake of Europe.

"I am convinced that new alliances between the centre-left can today give new dynamism to the political life and democracy of our societies and our Europe," Prodi said, to loud applause in a cavernous hall on the outskirts of the city of Lyon.

"Dear Segolene, dear French friends, we have to invent together a new way of conceiving democracy, a more inclusive, more direct, more active way that is closer to our citizens."

Just last week, Italy's ruling Democrats of the Left, descendants of the Italian Communist Party, and the Margherita party, an offshoot of the Christian Democrats who dominated post-war Italy, announced plans to merge.

Royal came second in the opening round of the presidential election on April 22, taking 25.9 percent of the vote against 31.2 percent for Sarkozy, the supremely self-confident rightist leader who has promoted a tough law and order agenda.

Centrist Francois Bayrou finished third with 18.6 percent of the vote and his electorate hold the key to the run-off vote.

Royal immediately sought to build bridges with Bayrou and is due to hold a television debate with him on Saturday -- the first time the second and third-placed candidates in a French election have gone head-to-head before the final decisive vote.

Hardcore leftists, including many Socialist veterans, have bristled over her maneuvering, fearful that she is looking to change the nature of her party -- one of the few European Socialist parties that has not reformed itself.

"Careful, comrades, you're playing with fire," Socialist Senator Jean-Luc Melenchon wrote on his blog this week.

However, Royal has little chance of winning the election, and becoming France's first woman president, without the backing of the centre after the far-left vote crumbled on April 22.

Many Socialist supporters streaming into Friday's rally said Royal should follow her instincts and ignore the cries of alarm from certain sections of the party.

"It's obvious that France as a whole has moved closer to the centre and we have to do the same thing if we want to win again," said Elise Vericel, a 24-year old nurse.