[Opinion] Prime Ministers of France

Lionel Jospin, the Prime Minister of the former French government, was a de facto president. In France, the President, who represents the country and takes charge of national defense and diplomacy, and the Prime Minister, who is responsible for overall home affairs, share governmental power. Jospin was leader of the opposition party who secured a grip on congress after his victory in the General Election. As a Prime Minister of the “Cohabitation government,” he had French home affairs completely under his control and infringed on the area of diplomacy. He attended each summit talk along with Jacques Chirac. It was because he had the next presidency in mind. It was not Chirac but Jospin who over issued pork-barrel policies before the presidential election of 2002.

A chagrined President Chirac won an overwhelming victory in the General Election after the presidential election. Chirac named Jean-Pierre Raffarin to be the Prime Minister, who was contrast to his predecessor. He took care of French home affairs practically with his business background. With him backing up, President Chirac was free to become a star of anti-American diplomacy after the Iraq war. However, the approval ratings for Prime Minister Raffarin plunged because he kept impelling the annuity reformation policy, which was in public disfavor. He is a typical “bulletproof Prime Minister” now in the crisis of changeover.

It seems hard to be a Prime Minister, whether powerful or not. Ex-French Prime Ministers disclosed to Le Monde their agonies of being Prime Minister. They said that the Prime Minister is caught “in between fastidious voters and a haughty president.” Michel Rocard, ex-Prime Minister in the government of President Francois Mitterand, said, “I happened to get divorced sooner because I was a Prime Minister, which would have been belated otherwise.” Ex-Prime Minster Raymond Barre said, “Think about receiving a yearly schedule tightly fixed on New Year’s Day, your first day at work. I could not fall asleep after work.”

Just as in France, there exist both a President and a Prime Minister in the Korean governmental system, and all previous Prime Ministers have been “bulletproof.” Right after being elected, President Roh promised a “decentralized presidential government” like that of France after the General Election. He was known to be wholly devoted to the leadership of President Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle germinated decentralized presidential government, saying, “For the President to be able to concentrate on substantial and long-standing issues, the Prime Minister should take a complementary role.” However, he never allowed challenges to the authority of the President. I wonder how much of his power and role will be allotted to the newly-appointed Prime Minister.

Park Je-kyoon, Paris Correspondent phark@donga.com