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CHIRAC SUPPORTS SARKOZY AS HE LEAVES THE GOVERNMENT

President Jacques Chirac has issued a statement announcing, at the same time, that the Minister of the Interior is to leave the government on March 24 and his support in the elections. He said (in French): "This morning, with the Prime Minister, I received the Minister of State and the Minister of the Interior. Nicolas Sarkozy informed us that he wished to leave the government next Monday, to be able to dedicate himself totally to the election campaign. I have accepted this proposal.

"The meeting was for the Prime Minister and myself an opportunity to acknowledge his work, his commitment and his results as Minister of the Interior. "As far as my personal preference is concerned, it is simple. Five years ago I sought the creation of the UMP to enable France to carry through a rigorous policy of modernisation in the long term. All trends in the party chose to support Nicolas Sarkozy as candidate for the presidential elections by virtue of his abilities. Naturally therefore I will support him and vote for him."

No one expected a gushing and fulsome speech of support for Nicolas Sarkozy from the retiring president. Any such statement would have attracted ridicule and might even have been unwelcome to the UMP candidate. The two men have had a difficult, complex and controversial relationship, particularly since the time when Sarkozy supported Édouard Balladur for the presidency against Chirac in 1995.

The statement is restrained and, particularly in the original French, not without ambiguity. It is noticeable that it does not mention the UMP leader's time at the Ministry of Finance where he was, in some ways, more obviously successful and certainly less controversial than at the Interior. On the other hand, the statement follows closely the precedent set by François Mitterrand, in the only comparable circumstances, when he stood down in 1995 and Lionel Jospin succeeded him as the Socialist candidate.

Nicolas Sarkozy immediately issued a statement saying: "Jacques Chirac has just announced that he will support me and vote for me. I am very touched by this decision. It is important for me politically and personally. Coming from a man who has been President of the Republic for 12 years and who knows better than anyone the demands of the job, the announcement by Jacques Chirac has great political significance."

By Robert Harneis

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    New Ambassador arrives in Paris    

Sir Peter Westmacott has just taken up
his new appointment in Paris.
His previous post was as ambassador to Turkey,
which makes his appointment highly significant.
France is the biggest obstacle to Turkish
entry into the European Union and Britain
is the biggest supporter of Turkish membership.
France is about to see a major change with
a new president arriving in May. Britain 
is likely to have a new Prime Minister in July.
Whoever is elected, it is bound to be a diplomatic 
revolution in style if not in content after 12 years
of Jacques Chirac and 10 years of Tony Blair.
In addition to Turkey, the three hot dossiers
are the Airbus crisis, the joint aircraft-carrier
project and nuclear power. Britain makes the wings 
for the crisis-stricken Airbus. The joint aircraft-carrier project
is far from running smoothly. Tony Blair is
currently reviving Britain’s nuclear programme
land France hopes that the French nuclear construction company
Areva will build and run power stations in Britain.
It is unlikely that the anti-nuclear lobby
will allow things to run smoothly here either.

In the background, is a constant division of
opinion between France and Britain over
how much influence the United States
should have in European defence and
what NATO policy should be.
Britain has until now followed the United States like Good 
King Wenceslas’s page through the deep snow
of international relations. France is becoming
increasingly concerned that Europe must stand
on its own feet and defend itself.

The recent rumpus with the Russians over
the stationing of American missiles in 
Poland is heightening differences.
France and some other EU members fear that 
American expansionist military policy in 
Eastern Europe is damaging delicate
relations with a renascent Russia.
It is not just a question of energy. Space
cooperation is very important as well.
The French genuinely believe that American 
policy is misguided and likely to be counter-productive
, with the consequences falling not on America but Europe.
France blames recent talk from Moscow 
threatening to point missiles at European targets.
It is a main aim of French foreign policy to detach
Britain from America and create a genuine European defence 
policy that does not antagonise Russia.
By Robert Harneis


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