"I will be the last of the great presidents . . . the last in the line of de Gaulle. After me, there will be no more in France." This was how François Mitterrand immodestly assessed the unpromising prospects for his successors as French president.

As the country prepares to commemorate tomorrow the 10th anniversary of Mitterrand's death, most observers agree that in spite of his stature as a towering political figure on the domestic and European stage, France's longest-serving postwar president left a difficult heritage - not only for President Jacques Chirac, who has been subjected to a string of unflattering comparisons with his predecessor, but also for those seeking to follow in Mitterrand's footsteps in the Socialist party, which has been racked by internal squabbles ever since he left office in 1995.