Struggling Royal finally unveils French vote plan

PARIS, Feb 11 (Reuters) Lagging in the opinion polls, French Socialist candidate Segolene Royal faces the biggest test of her presidential campaign today, when she gives a speech to party faithful finally outlining her policy framework.

Royal won her party's nomination last November and appeared on course to become France's first woman president, but in recent months has been tripped up by gaffes and lost the political initiative by refusing to detail her manifesto.

Instead she initiated some 6,000 ''participative debates'' around the country, to listen to voters' concerns and hear their suggestions for a country that has lost both economic might and international muscle over the past decade.

Royal says her ''listening phase'' is now over and today's rally before some 8,000 party members in a Paris suburb is being presented as a turning point in her battle to win power.

''This is a new phase,'' former Socialist prime minister Pierre Mauroy told today's edition of Le Parisien daily.

''We need to change the rhythm ... The time has come to respond to the great number of very harsh attacks launched by the right and some elements of the media.'' Royal's unconventional start to her campaign has allowed her main rightist rival Nicolas Sarkozy to surge ahead in the polls, winning plaudits for appearing more decisive, coherent and better prepared for the most powerful job in France.

Members of Royal's entourage say her speech, which is due to start at 2.30 p.m. (1900 hrs ist) will focus on three areas the economy, society and the environment. However, only part of her platform will be revealed now, with the rest coming in March.

ECHOES OF MITTERRAND Le Monde newspaper reported yesterday that she would probably unveil around 100 proposals including a pledge to hike pensions by 5 percent, reintroduce community policing into crime-plagued suburbs and cut banking fees.

''It's a contract I want to seal with the French,'' Royal told Le Monde, adding it was based on ''rights and obligations''.

The idea of establishing 100 proposals echoes the triumphant campaign of the late Socialist president Francois Mitterrand when he won power in 1981. Royal started her political career under Mitterrand and regularly holds him up as a mentor.

Royal faces a daunting opponent in Sarkozy, the uncompromising interior minister who has barely put a foot wrong since winning his party nomination last month and who has built up a 4-to-5 point lead according to the latest polls.

Sarkozy is holding his own major rally today morning, to prevent Royal from grabbing all the headlines.

The conservative champion is looking to soften his tough-man image and is expected to use his meeting to announce that he will seek help from outside his camp if he wins the election in April and May and takes over from President Jacques Chirac.

Chirac has ruled France for 12 patchy years and used to be close to Sarkozy, but their conflicting ambitions wrecked their relations and the president has not yet said if he will seek an unprecedented, albeit extremely unlikely, third term in office.

However, in an interview to be aired on French television today Chirac is expected to drop his biggest hint yet that after 40 years in frontline politics, he is ready to retire.

''There is without doubt a life after politics. Until death,'' Chirac says in the interview, according to leaks in the press.

REUTERS SY MIR KP1505