13 May 2006 Blog Home : May 2006 : Permalink
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has scotched rumours that he will resign from the government because of a corruption scandal.
Mr Sarkozy, who also heads the ruling party, was wrongly accused of holding secret foreign bank accounts.
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The public is bewildered, the opposition socialists are making hay, but Mr Sarkozy, a man who is often portrayed as the great hope of the right, has decided that for now, he is not going to jump ship.
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With the government's popularity plunging, there is a lot of temptation for Mr Sarkozy to resign and pose as a candidate of change and renewal at next year's election.
But he told a party gathering in Paris that resigning would precipitate a worse crisis that would help only the extremists and the political left.
"I want justice, real justice, not political vengeance," he said.
Although I'm not at all sure about that last line. I'm sure he does want justice but I bet he also wants vengence!
PARIS - President Jacques Chirac started 2006 by declaring his determination to make it "a useful year for France." Instead, his government has lurched from crisis to crisis. [...] "It is indispensable for the country," Chirac said, adding that, in this way, the country can face the 2007 election year "in a spirit of calm and responsibility."
[...] To the outside world, the sorry state of affairs presents a picture of a France in chaos, further compromising the nation‘s traditional role as a European leader after the humiliating French "no" vote in the referendum for a European constitution last May.
Chirac, however, insisted Friday that France's authority abroad had not suffered. Speaking in Vienna, he said France‘s role in a European-Latin American summit there and the results of recent French diplomacy "show that this concern has no place."
Commentary and Specualation alert: As numerous commentators have noted, although the socialists have piled in on criticising l'Escroc and his government for its behaviour and have tabled a censure motion in the parliament for next week, they don't seem ready to fight an election - indeed AFP reports that they can't agree on a common policy platform. I am wondering whether Sarko is in fact not resigning because he expects the government to fall momentarily and for there to be an election rather earlier than anyone else expected. I think it is fair to say that neither the left nor the far right are prepared for an election this year so, if Sarko is prepared, and I think he probably is, then he may be deliberately aiming for an election when his oponents are off balance. Sarko has, in fact, continued his day job as interior minister throughout all this and has proposed fairly controversial reforms to the immigration laws.1) The "Mohammed" law
All people called Mohammed, who know someone call Mohammed, are related to Mohammed, or worship the prophet Mohammed, are to undergo a strict "Francisation" course at an army base in Neuilly, involving singing the Marseillaise on the hour, every hour, and worshipping a bust of Générale de Gaulle. Anyone who fails to eat three jars of pig paté is immediately expelled from the country, along with all the Mohammeds they already know / are related to.
2) The Sangatte Marathon
Under cover of darkness, immigrants run a gruelling marathon to the Eurostar tunnel, and must convince British officials that they are French in order to enter Britain. They will be provided with berets, stripy Breton jumpers and onions to hang around their necks, as well as fake passports including the stamp "I am Frenchie", and a signature from Nic The Gnome himself. Anyone who fails will be returned to their own country.
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