Signs of panic have appeared in France’s demoralised opposition after President Sarkozy promised no let-up in his drive to woo senior Socialists for service in his centre-right administration. The predatory recruiting tactics of “Super-Sarko” have stirred doubts about the very survival of the left-of-centre party, whose candidate, Ségolène Royal, was defeated in the presidential election in May. They have also upset MPs in his own Union for a Popular Movement.

Crying foul along with the Socialists, François Bayrou, the leader of the centre Democratic Movement party, said that Mr Sarkozy was behaving “like a piranha loose in a bowl of goldfish”. Mr Bayrou is one of the piranha’s big victims. After threatening for a time to defeat Mr Sarkozy in the elections, he has been left with only three MPs. The rest of his party has defected to Mr Sarkozy’s camp, three of them as ministers.

After poaching six left-leaning MPs as ministers Mr Sarkozy has rattled the Socialist leadership by continuing to woo party stars with job offers. The latest of these are Hubert Védrine, a former foreign minister, and Jack Lang, a popular Cabinet minister in the 1980s and 1990s. Mr Védrine has accepted. Mr Lang has been told that he faces expulsion if he accepts an offer to serve on a commission to propose changes to the Constitution. It has emerged that Mr Sarkozy even telephoned Julien Dray, Ms Royal’s campaign chief, with an offer of a place in his Cabinet.

The Socialists were rattled further yesterday by Mr Sarkozy’s enthusiastic campaign to persuade European leaders to name Dominique Strauss-Kahn, one of the most popular Socialists, as next head of the International Monetary Fund.

François Hollande, the Socialist leader, lashed out at Mr Sarkozy, accusing him of flouting the rules of politics. “He is performing manipulation, trying to sow confusion,” Mr Hollande said. “He is playing games.” Privately, Mr Hollande is furious with colleagues who have defected or been tempted to sup with the opponent whom they demonised in the election campaign.

A solid majority of the French approve of Mr Sarkozy’s policy of ouverture, or opening, as he calls his cross-party Government. However, it is unnerving MPs in his own camp who had been hoping for posts in return for their loyalty. François Fillon, the Prime Minister, was given an icy reception when he tried to soothe their nerves at the weekend.

“Sarkozy is stealing all of the talent on the Left,” moaned one MP. “If this keeps up I’m going to join the Socialist Party.” Mr Sarkozy’s shameless ploy has earned some left-wing admiration. Gérard Collomb, the Socialist Mayor of Lyons, said yesterday that the President had managed to “get rid of ideology”. He added: “There is a whiff of panic in the Socialist headquarters. Everyone would do better to keep their nerve.”

The President is barely able to disguise his glee over the chaos that he is inflicting among the Socialists. On Sunday he named publicly five more left-leaning MPs to whom he had offered assignments and said that he would continue to cherry-pick the “best talent” from all parties in the interests of the nation. He wanted to govern beyond party politics, he said. “Being President of all the French is an obsession for me.”

As for Mr Strauss-Kahn, Mr Sarkozy said: “Why should I deprive France of his candidacy because he is a Socialist? I didn’t ask him to stop being a Socialist.”

President Sarkozy appeared at an EU finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels last night to ask for an extra two years to make cuts in his country’s deficit. He faced opposition from Germany, Portugal, which holds the EU presidency, the European Central Bank and smaller states angry at a large country trying yet again to dodge financial targets. Fellow members of the 13-nation eurozone, which already resent Germany and France being allowed to miss targets in 2003, had been told in April that all countries should cancel their deficits by 2010. Mr Sarkozy argued that France needed extra time because of his new economic policies designed to revive the national economy.

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