The row started ordinarily enough, with Jospin reaffirming to weekend provincial newspapers his stance that nuclear power -- the source of three-quarters of France's energy -- would stay, despite repeated demands from the Greens for a phase-out similar to the one imposed in neighbouring Germany.

But the environmentalists decided that, this time, they would make an issue of it, exploiting Jospin's political vulnerability going into presidential elections next month and June legislative elections.

Polls put Jospin neck-and-neck with incumbent head of state Jacques Chirac, founder of the conservative RPR party, in the first round of voting. The Socialists and the RPR are likely to be similarly matched going into the second round.

Such tight races give king-making powers to minor supporters, as the Greens well know. That is why they decided to bite back by turning the screw on Jospin.

"Mr Jospin has just maybe broken the left-wing coalition," the Greens candidate trailing in the presidential election, Noel Mamere, thundered in Le Monde, adding that he saw Jospin's nuclear stand as a "declaration of war."

The past and present environment ministers -- both members of the Greens party -- were more measured, though also clearly miffed.

Jospin "will have problems attracting the ecologist electorate if he continues to abuse his leftwing coalition partners day after day," ex-minister and Greens leader Dominique Voynet said.

Voynet's successor and current holder of the portfolio, Yves Cochet, said the nuclear issue was important and claimed most French people wanted to see it phased out, but added that he did not see the coalition breaking apart over the conflict.

For his part, Jospin told the newspapers that he recognised there would be no unanimity in the governing coalition on the matter, but that the Socialists were not prepared to see France become dependent on foreign sources of energy.

Ironically, the leftwing prime minister found himself riding out the political storm Saturday among people unhappy with another Greens policy -- this one adopted by the government.

His welcome in Mocenx, a town in the very rural Landes region in southwest France, was lukewarm at best as tried to convince locals that "the country is at the heart of our national identity".

Many of those failing to applaud were hunters, part of a 1.5-million strong group which has reacted angrily to Jospin's decision to close the shooting season on migratory birds from February 1.

While that falls in line with European norms, French hunters have been outraged by what they see as city folk intruding on their traditions. They have put forward their own presidential candidate, Jean Saint-Josse, to highlight their complaint, though he stands no chance in the elections.

In the meantime, a multitude of voter intention surveys have shown that Jospin is level-pegged with Chirac, but unable to make any headway.

An IFOP/JDD released Saturday gave some good news for Chirac, who has been trailing behind Jospin in most polls, giving him 23 percent of the vote in the April 21 first round, versus Jospin's 21 percent.

But the poll found that in the decisive second round of voting on May 5, Chirac and Jospin each come away with 50 percent of the vote -- the same results as it found in its January and February polls.

Eleven percent would abstain from the vote, the poll, which interviewed 947 adults by telephone, found.

All rights reserved. � 2002 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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