The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Predictable damage-control step

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Monday, Jun 06, 2005

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Opinion - Editorials

Predictable damage-control step

Days before the May 29 referendum on the European Constitution, French President Jacques Chirac ruled out his resignation in the event of a `Non' result, arguing it was not a vote on his track record in office. Faced with firm evidence that voters had used the opportunity to express their dissatisfaction with his Government's performance on the domestic economic front, President Chirac took the easier and more predictable damage-control step of getting his Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, to step down. Opinion polls had shown up Mr. Raffarin as the most disliked premier since the inception of the Fifth Republic in 1958. He shouldered the blame for the unpopular economic measures introduced by the Government, notably opening the lid on the 35-hour working week, which is cherished by French employees as a hard-won right. He was also widely held responsible for the Government's delayed response to the emergency caused by the unprecedented heat wave of July 2003 that claimed several lives. Mr. Raffarin was also criticised for failing to contain unemployment. This, combined with fears that a more closely integrated Europe would lead to an influx of cheap labour from less prosperous member-states and consequently to more job losses, was an important reason for the French rejection of the European Constitution.

Can Dominique Villepin, the sophisticated poet-diplomat who has succeeded Mr. Raffarin, win popular support for this French Government and erase the memory of the humiliating referendum defeat for President Chirac in the remaining two years of his second term? If Mr. Raffarin, a politician with a non-elitist background, fails to reconnect the Government with disenchanted voters — aside from the referendum, the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) lost a regional election as also elections to the European Parliament in 2004 — the aristocratic Mr. Villepin is bound to find it an even more uphill task to salvage the Chirac legacy. For a start, he is not an elected politician, and his appointment has already triggered protests; it has been criticised as "anti-democratic" and going against the people's wish as expressed at the referendum. Evidently, the main consideration in the President's choice of Mr. Villepin as Prime Minister was that he is a loyalist and close friend. After last week's defeat, it is possible that Mr. Chirac will not seek a third term as President. He might be hoping to prepare Mr. Villepin for the 2007 presidential contest, grooming him for the party's nomination against rival claimant Nicolas Sarkozy, an arch foe of Mr. Chirac and, at the moment, one of the most popular politicians in France. As the new Minister of the Interior, Mr. Sarkozy is effectively Number 2 in the new Government. He is also the leader of the UMP. For Prime Minister Villepin to project himself as a credible presidential candidate of the UMP, he has to first show that he can turn around the Government's fortunes. Europe, and the world, will be watching.

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