[Opinion] The French Way of Overcoming Confusion

In May 2001, French President Jacques Chirac was very anxious. This was due to some members of the Socialist Party (SP), the majority party, taking action for impeachment. Back then, Chirac was summoned after being accused of corruption while as the mayor of Paris. As he refused to answer to the summons, pointing out his exemption privilege, the Socialist Party took out the impeachment card. However, as the action for the impeachment started with receiving signatures, Chirac’s political rival SP leader, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin strongly inhibited it. The reason was that the impeachment could be seen as a political offensive towards a nowhere-to-go political opponent.

Jospin also lost his self control with the 2002 presidential election around the corner. He used his prime minister’s quarters, which manages domestic administrations in the government and the opposition party’s “living together” government system, to pork-barrel excessively. Jospin even earned a nickname, “Pere Lionell.” It comes from its similarity with “Pere Noel,” which means Santa Claus in French. Just then, Laurent Fabius, the minister of Finance, put the brakes to Jospin. Minister Fabius stopped Jospin’s actions by saying, “The government does not keep a secret safe.” Fabius is a Socialist Party member and was selected by Jospin.

Eventually, Prime Minister Jospin met a dishonorable decampment. He placed an unexpected third after Jean Marie Lepin (FN) on the first vote. The nation was horrified to see Lepin, an extreme right-winger, be selected to enter the final vote. The press warned that a knell rang towards French democracy. There were protests against the extreme right all over the nation. The run-off ended with an overwhelming victory for Chirac. Chirac, who achieved less than 20 percent in the first vote, obtained 82.08 percent.

French politicians are corrupted jobs as well. Political transparency is much worse compared to that of Anglo-American and Northern Europe. However, there exist political leaders who can control themselves and can say “stop” to the rambunctious leaders when needed in France. On top of this, there is the nation who becomes one in times of crisis. Due to these people, French overcomes political crisis that leads to a national chaos. It is a time when those politicians are missed.

Paris correspondent Park Jae-gyun phark@donga.com