Word: villepin
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...trial pitting French President Nicolas Sarkozy against fellow conservative and former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has just opened and already the French media is buzzing with words like hatred, treason and war. In the same courtroom in which a French revolutionary tribunal sentenced Marie Antoinette to the guillotine in 1793, a panel of judges will hear whether de Villepin was actively involved in a smear campaign that was apparently designed to torpedo Sarkozy's ultimately successful 2007 presidential bid. The outcome will determine whether the flamboyant de Villepin's political career dies on the spike of a guilty verdict...
...forged list of names of 89 Clearstream account holders that was sent to a French investigating judge in 2004 by an anonymous whistle-blower. Among those cited were then Finance Minister Sarkozy, who at the time was locked in a fierce battle with his boss, Prime Minister de Villepin, over who would run as the right's standard-bearer in the 2007 elections to succeed conservative President Jacques Chirac. The court will examine whether de Villepin used what he eventually learned was a fraudulent list in the hope that it would scuttle Sarkozy's presidential bid. (See pictures of Nicolas...
...agonizingly twisted, confusing chronology of the case runs from 2003 to 2007, when de Villepin was formerly placed under investigation. The former Prime Minister is accused of "complicity in false accusation, complicity in using forgeries, receipt of stolen property and breach of trust" in complaints filed by 39 plaintiffs, first among them Sarkozy. Three other defendants join de Villepin on trial for their roles in producing, detaining and disseminating the Clearstream list...
...member board, chaired by former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, says that without strategic direction and clear priorities on issues like security and energy, the Bulgarian state could face populist revolts. And that instability "could undo the ties between the E.U. and Bulgaria, prompting a shift toward Russian political and economic interests...
...coming from the left. But these days, the president's fellow rightists are also questioning his decision-making and leadership, with at least two conservatives clearly prepared to run against him for the Elysée in the 2012 elections. Former Prime Minister and long-time foe Dominique de Villepin has been seemingly omnipresent on French TV and radio second-guessing Sarkozy's thrifty economic stewardship and denouncing his decision to return France to NATO's integrated military command. (Read a TIME story on NATO...