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| Europe |
| France to tighten presidential immunity laws |
| 2003-06-24 |
| France plans to strengthen its president's immunity from criminal investigation and prosecution but create clearer guidelines for impeaching a head of state, Justice Minister Dominique Perben announced on Tuesday. Now why would you need to do that? The reform would put into law the blanket immunity that the Constitutional Council granted to President Jacques Chirac in 1999 as an investigating magistrate sought to question him about alleged fraud cases during his 1977-1995 stint as Paris mayor. Oh, right. It was announced two weeks after an investigating magistrate defied the public prosecutor and pledged to open an inquiry into charges of false billing for 14 million francs ($2.5 million) Chirac and his wife spent on food while at Paris city hall. Perben said a draft law, announced a week after the Italian parliament granted Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immunity from prosecution while in office, would be presented to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's cabinet in a few weeks. Chirac has long been accused of taking kickbacks and using official funds for private travel while mayor of Paris. He denies any wrongdoing but has used presidential immunity to refuse to testify to a judge. If he had lost the election, he'd be in the slammer. Perben said the law would amend the relevant passage in the French constitution to read: ''During his mandate, the president cannot be required to give testimony before any jurisdiction or administrative authority nor be the object of an inquiry, investigation or pursuit.'' To be known as the "Get Out Of Jail Free" amendment. The reform would also establish a clearer procedure for impeachment, which until now was allowed in France only in cases of high treason. If the reform is passed, a president could be impeached for ''a failure in his duties that is manifestly incompatible with the exercise of his mandate.'' According to the Paris daily Le Monde, such failures would not be clearly defined but could include scandalous behaviour or conflicts of interest. "conflicts of interest": U.N. Oil for Food + FINA/ELF + kickbacks = jailtime. Under the reform, a presidential impeachment trial would be held by a congress of all National Assembly and Senate members. Well, forget about getting any trial there. |
| Posted by:Steve |