Word: villepin
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...trial has already provided drama. "I am here because of the decision of one man and the obsession of one man: Nicolas Sarkozy," Villepin declared, with the type of flair and indignant passion that he used to irk American officials when, as French Foreign Minister, he floridly denounced U.S. plans to invade Iraq. By way of retort, Sarkozy created an uproar on a nationally televised interview by referring to the defendants in the case as "guilty," ignoring the presumption of innocence central to France's legal system. The people responsible for the smear, Sarkozy said earlier, should "hang...
...political feuding goes back more than a decade. In 1995, Sarkozy betrayed longtime mentor Jacques Chirac by throwing his support behind a rival conservative candidate in the presidential election. Chirac won, named Villepin, his former campaign director, as his Elysée chief of staff and banished Sarkozy to a humiliating political exile. Sarkozy's punishment finally ended in 2002 when Chirac, eager to exploit the younger man's well-known hard-line attitude on law and order, tapped him as Interior Minister. Sarkozy's efforts there and in later Cabinet posts boosted his popularity just as he was consolidating...
Dueling Political Castes The current brawl is more than a personal feud. It pits the older, cosseted caste of statesmen and dignitaries against a younger, feistier generation more driven by election victories and policy results than diplomas and refinement. The split is perfectly personified in Sarkozy and Villepin. Born and raised abroad to a diplomat father and a judicial official mother, Villepin attended the élite schools that produce France's top civil servants. True to his family's aristocratic roots, the suave, permatanned Villepin is famous for writing poetry and studies of Napoleon. Despite winning praise as Foreign Affairs...
France's class divisions have little to do with a split between the political right and left. The differences and animosities between the old and the new can be found across the spectrum. "Some follow the tradition of élitist French politicians and leaders like Villepin, who honor philosophy, literature and oratorical skill, and regard intellectual performance as the primary political tool," says Rozès. "Others, like Sarkozy, are distrustful of that cliquish, insider atmosphere, and define and construct themselves by action, pragmatism, doing things." (See pictures of Paris expanding...
...Neither of these men is entirely true to the profile each projects, but both are so exceptional and unique that their confrontation is bound to be spectacular," says political analyst Jean-Luc Parodi. If Villepin is found guilty he would likely face a 10-year ban from public office and an irreparable blow to his reputation. Acquittal would allow him to continue his attacks on Sarkozy, and would add credibility to his claim that he is the victim of a presidential persecution campaign. The verdict could prove just as important for French society...