 | Posted on the off-chance that France still matters. Also posted for comic relief. You decide which is more important. |
PARIS -- When French criminal investigators finish their probe of the smear, who was smeared and who did the smearing may be little more than a footnote.
A burgeoning political scandal of alleged dirty tricks involving the cabinet's two top ministers has tainted the entire French government, pushing it to the brink of paralysis and collapse in the final year of President Jacques Chirac's administration, according to government officials and political analysts.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin who is a man faces daily calls for his resignation. Flanked by somber-faced ministers, he told reporters at a packed news conference Thursday that the corruption investigation would "not deter me one second from my mission."
| Not that he or anyone else knows what that is, and that's the underlying problem. I suspect the average Frenchman really doesn't care about the scandal per se -- it's no big revelation to them that their politicans are, by and large, sneaky, conniving scum. This particular scandal has become larger than itself because one, de Villepin is recognized properly as a fool who's promoted himself to the top without ever getting a seal of approval from the public, and two, he's recognized as an incompetent who not only can't properly put a knife into Sarkozy's back but also can't manage the government. |
What's known as the Clearstream scandal centers on whether Villepin secretly ordered a criminal investigation to damage the reputation of Interior Ministry Nicolas Sarkozy, Villepin's party colleague and rival for the presidency. Villepin on Thursday denied ordering the probe, calling allegations that he did "lies, slander and attacks."
| Which fall on deaf French ears. Is there anyone in France who thinks that Villepin is somehow above smearing a political rival? |
The investigation is the latest blow to a government already weakened by riots last fall in immigrant-populated suburbs of Paris and around the country and crippling student demonstrations and workers' strikes this spring. "The situation is extremely volatile," said Renaud Dehousse, director of the Center for European Studies at the Institute of Political Sciences in Paris. "The government has lost any credibility whatsoever."
| And Renaud would know, 'cause he's an expert, as you can tell by the director title. Truth is, he's part of the class of 'elite' people responsible for this whole mess, and for the larger mess that is France. |
The scandal is unfolding as French politicians and pundits struggle to assign blame for decay in many aspects of French society -- government, economy, and the nation's general standing in the world. "The problem in France is that the political and diplomatic and official elite are stuck in a time warp of believing in l'exception française ," said Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform in London, referring to a belief that France is in a class of its own.
| How long is that time warp? At least five centuries? Fifteen? The French have always thought they were at, or at least near, the center of the universe. The tribal Franks thought they had special status in the late Western Roman Empire. Ever since the French have either fought to be at the center, or fought to dislodge someone else from the center. They've always been an exception, though infrequently exceptional. |
In an opinion poll published this week by the newspaper Liberation, Villepin's approval rating was 20 percent, only 2 percentage points above the record low for a prime minister, set in 1992. Previous polls indicated that only 1 percent of surveyed French voters wanted Chirac to seek reelection.
| The chattering class in the U.S. hammers GWB for his low approval ratings (which they helped to create). Chirac would kiss Dominique's pointy nose for a 33% approval rating. |
Villepin was appointed by Chirac and has never held elective office. For many in France, he has come to epitomize a political elite deemed out of touch with most voters. Those calling on him to step down include members of his own party. "Why doesn't Villepin resign?" said Cyril Enghin, 25, a physics student. "Nobody supports him anymore."
| Why don't you vote for an effective political party? Better yet, why don't you go start a business and amount to something in your country? Pull your country out of the fire, young man, 'cause we Amis aren't going to do it this time. |
The weakness of the government and an opinion backlash against immigration following last fall's violence has allowed the resurgence by France's ultra-nationalist candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front. He had approval rates of 12 to 14 percent in recent opinion polls.
Le Pen, 77, who calls for strict controls on immigration, caught the French mainstream by surprise by placing second to Chirac in the first round of the 2002 presidential election, winning 17 percent of the vote to Chirac's 19 percent in a crowded field. Announcing his bid for the 2007 presidency to a boisterous crowd Monday, Le Pen blasted the government's role in the Clearstream scandal, saying: "Lies of state are now the rule in our banana republic."
| This is a disservice to banana republics all over Latin America. |
Le Pen's current popularity has alarmed many French voters. "The government is in terrible shape," said Claire Terrier, a dental assistant. "Who's lying? I don't really care. This affair is great for Le Pen but bad for democracy."
| If you don't start caring, Claire, you'll end up with one of the following outcomes, all of which are bad: Le Pen gets elected, and he's a nutcase; another stooge/hack/elite goof gets elected, in which case your country continues to slide; or your fifth column Islamicists decide that French will is so non-existent that they try to seize power. Enjoy your apathy. |
The fracas between Villepin and Sarkozy stems from an investigation into allegations that senior French officials received kickbacks from a $2.8 billion sale of frigates to Taiwan in 1991. Two years ago, the judge investigating the sale received an anonymous CD listing dozens of French officials, including Sarkozy, who allegedly laundered their money through the Luxembourg-based Clearstream financial institution. After a year's investigation, the judge concluded that the information on the CD was bogus, and the probe shifted to who was peddling what was seen as an attempt to smear Sarkozy.
Last week, the newspaper Le Monde ran a lengthy article quoting testimony and notes from a senior French investigator indicating that Villepin, possibly at Chirac's urging, had ordered the investigation of Sarkozy, and that the prime minister did not announce that Sarkozy and others had been cleared even after the judge determined there was no case against them.
| Hoping that the whole thing would die a quiet death at that point ... |
Villepin and Chirac have denied ordering an investigation of Sarkozy. The investigator has denied being ordered to probe him, saying that Le Monde took his testimony and notes out of context.
| "Non, non, certainement pas!" |
Many analysts here believe that Villepin's misfortunes have killed his chances as a presidential candidate for the ruling Popular Movement (UMP) party next year. In the meantime, the government will probably remain in limbo. "It's difficult for Villepin to govern with such a lack of support," and he probably will be dismissed eventually, said Alain Duhamel, a political analyst. "Daily decisions will be made, but France will lose a year."
Why worry about a lost year when you've lost at least eight decades? French political incompetence threw away a pretty commanding position right after the First World War, where the French and Brits together could have dictated a transformation of Europe pretty much to their liking. French connivance and collaboration eviscerated their collective heart during and after WWII. The Algerian war, Indochina and the Suez affair demonstrated the bankruptcy of French foreign and military policy. A refusal to face simple economic facts has led to an ennervated economy where the students at the Sorbonnne think they should have jobs (in the government or a think tank, of course) for life, and where a young person with promise but no connections ends up in a factory job -- at best -- for life. A refusal to face up to racism has led to an inability to recognize the ticking time bomb of Islamic immigration in the citÃes and housing developments, so that the term 'Car-B-Q' is one that many recognize as uniquely French.
And you're worried about a lost year? |
Sarkozy, the head of UMP, now appears to be the party's leading candidate. In most opinion polls he leads or runs second to all other potential contenders. Though he was partially blamed for fueling last fall's unrest -- referring to rioters as "scum" -- he has avoided being dragged down by painting himself as an outsider running against the party's elite, represented by Villepin and his mentor, Chirac. Sarkozy has increasingly courted the far right with tough anti-immigration measures.
| It's not clear to me that Sarkozy actually has a clue as to what is ailing his country, or whether he's just another elistist and opportunist who sees an opening to the right of Chirac and the left of Le Pen, and is trying to wedge himself into that space so that in the next Presidential election, he can gather up the center and right against the socialist-communist candidate(s). If he's the latter, then the tough talk will remain just that, and the government will continue to avoid studiously any measure that might begin to address the many problems in France. |
The spat came as newspapers published scathing exposes of Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, a 53-year-old cardiologist with no diplomatic experience who was appointed to the job last year after French voters rejected a draft European Union constitution. Le Monde last week published an unflattering profile of the man, who has publicly confused Taiwan with Thailand and Croatia with Kosovo, and who once was unable to respond to a weekend telephone call from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice because he had no translators with him. France's chief diplomat speaks only French.
| Doesn't everyone? The Euros laugh and gee-gaw every time we elect some (obvious to them) country bumpkin president. Here's a French Foreign Minister who can't speak English and can't find countries on a map, and we're supposed to remember that the French are a sophisticated nation, far more so than we Ami rubes. |
The satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine last month reported an incident in which Douste-Blazy and his female companion, TV producer Dominique Cantien, allegedly engaged in a brawl at a hotel in Marrakesh last New Year's Eve that spilled out of their room into a hallway. Douste-Blazy denied reports that the room was extensively damaged and that Morrocco's government paid to repair it.
| Can you imagine the reportage that would be generated if Condi and a male companion got into a fight somewhere? |
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