Showing posts with label Dominique de Villepin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dominique de Villepin. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Ex-French PM: Terrorism Can't Justify Spying On Citizens!
Saturday, September 14, 2013
French Ex-PM: Law, Not Force, Only Solution for Syria
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Prosecutor Jean-Louis Perol asked the court in Paris to hand Mr Villepin, a possible candidate in the presidential election next April and an arch-enemy of Mr Sarkozy, a suspended jail sentence of 15 months.
Mr Villepin, who has quit Mr Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party, was acquitted last year in the first round of the trial but has landed back in court after an appeal by prosecutors.
He lashed out at the prosecution's demands in a trial where the verdict, due to be handed down in the autumn, could poison the climate in the run-up to a presidential election. Mr Sarkozy is widely expected to run for a second term. » | Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: President Nicolas Sarkozy is dangerous for France, warned Dominique de Villepin, the former French prime minister, as the bitter Right-wing rivals competed for Charles de Gaulle's mantle on the 40th anniversary of his death.
With De Gaulle nostalgia in full swing in France, President Sarkozy yesterday seized the commemoration to liken himself to the revered wartime leader who refused to collaborate with the Nazis and was the architect of the country's post-War recovery.
In a thinly-veiled reference to his deeply unpopular pension reforms, which brought millions to the streets in the past few weeks, the President quoted De Gaulle's phrase: "If France has called me to serve as its guide, it is certainly not to preside over its sleep."
But Mr de Villepin, a staunch Gaullist who famously opposed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, was the most vocal in denying the president's right to claim such a heritage. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The man who hopes to depose President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012 has launched his new political party.
France's former prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, deployed the grandiose rhetoric for which he is famous as he addressed supporters attending the launch of Republique Solidaire.
"All those in our country who are overwhelmed by fatalism, by cynicism or by indifference can look at us here and know that something has been reborn in France, something that, in the coming months, will not fail to grow," he said.
"Because at the heart of our history there is an ambition stronger than politics [–] there is the love of France."
He added: "our destiny is in our own hands."
Referring to his hero General de Gaulle, who[se] wartime rallying call to occupied France 70 years ago was marked this weekend, Mr de Villepin: added: "In 1940 men, women, young and not so young responded to the call of an unknown general ready to abandon everything, their homes, their land, to attain once more what was essential.
"Today let us take up once more that torch of republican loyalty. Let us take up once more the torch of justice and liberty." >>> Kim Willsher in Paris | Saturday, June 19, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Domenique de Villepin launched his new party with claims to offer an alternative to his arch rival, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Dominique de Villepin is France's modern day renaissance man. The former prime minister is perfectly capable of running the country while penning poetry, dashing off a couple of history books, philosophising in three languages and looking like a political pin up from central casting.
Nicolas Sarkozy is as near as it is possible to be to his polar opposite – brash, often irascible, from an immigrant background and with none of Mr de Villepin’s aloof grandeur.
As the two leading figures of the French Right, they have been forced together where necessary in the past, but they are much more comfortable at daggers drawn.
Now, the lofty disdain that Mr de Villepin feels for his more down-to-earth rival is about to split French politics in half as he embarks on what everybody in France believes is his attempt to prise the French presidency from Mr Sarkozy and seize it for himself. >>> Kim Willsher in Paris | Saturday, June 19, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: PARIS (Reuters) - Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced the creation of a new center-right party on Thursday set to challenge bitter rival President Nicolas Sarkozy in elections in two years' time.
The move by one of Sarkozy's fiercest critics within his own conservative camp comes as the president strains to recover from a crushing defeat in regional elections at the weekend.
"I have decided to create a new political movement that will be free and independent," Villepin told a news conference, adding that the party will be launched in Paris on June 19.
Villepin, an aristocratic former diplomat, said his movement would advocate a more equitable approach. "The motto of our struggle will be a republic of solidarity," he said.
Villepin's announcement is one of a number of signs that preparations for the 2012 presidential elections are already under way and that Sarkozy, previously seen as a near-certainty for re-election, may face a tougher race than expected.
In past years Sarkozy has enjoyed the spectacle of seeing Socialist opponents bicker among themselves, but a Villepin candidacy in the 2012 poll could split the conservative vote and highlight divisions in Sarkozy's UMP party.
CONSERVATIVE DISCONTENT
The president has focused on soothing discontent among center-right allies since the weekend election rout, dropping a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, reassuring farmers and hammering a tough line on security and immigration.
He also moved to undermine Villepin's nascent movement by recruiting to the government Georges Tron, one of the former prime minister's closest allies, in a reshuffle on Monday.
Villepin said his new party would stand for a more socially responsible conservatism, called for higher income and corporate taxes and said Sarkozy should drop the "fiscal shield" that protects the wealthy from paying more than 50 percent in tax.
Villepin said that while the 10 percent best paid in France now earn up to 230 times more than the 10 percent lowest paid, compared to 20 times in the 1970s and '80s.
"This is intolerable. Are we still a democracy, are we still a republic when the wage differences are so violent?" he said. >>> Reuters | Thursday, March 25, 2010
LE FIGARO: Villepin lance un mouvement politique «indépendant» : Devant un parterre de journalistes, l'ex-premier ministre s'est livré à un réquisitoire contre la politique de Nicolas Sarkozy et n'a pas exclu de se présenter en 2012. >>> Par Thibault Lieurade, Bastien Hugues | Jeudi 25 Mars 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Der ehemalige französischen Premierminister Dominique de Villepin fordert seinen langjährigen Rivalen Präsident Sarkozy offen heraus. Er gründet eine eigene Partei, deren Name noch nicht feststeht. Fernziel ist offenbar die Präsidentschaft.
Dominique de Villepin will mit einer neuen Partei die politische Landschaft in Frankreich verändern. «Wir brauchen einen Politikwechsel», sagte der frühere Premierminister am Donnerstag auf einer Pressekonferenz in Paris. Der Name der neuen Gruppierung soll am 19. Juni bekanntgegeben werden. Wo sie im politischen Spektrum stehen soll, war zunächst unklar. >>> ddp | Donnerstag, 25. März 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
LE FIGARO: Dans la foulée des régionales, plusieurs proches de l'ancien premier ministre ont annoncé qu'il devrait achever son retour sur la scène politique jeudi, en prenant une «initiative (…) au service des Français».
Les lignes bougent au lendemain des régionales. Alors qu'à gauche, Daniel Cohn-Bendit en appelle à former une «coopérative politique», à droite c'est Dominique de Villepin qui s'apprête à lancer son mouvement.
Selon plusieurs membres de son entourage qui s'exprimaient dimanche soir, l'ancien premier ministre devrait en effet annoncer jeudi la création d'un «mouvement au service des Français». Dominique de Villepin «va parler jeudi de l'avenir. Il va prendre une initiative», a affirmé la présidente de «Club Villepin», Brigitte Girardin. Lundi François Goulard, député UMP du Morbihan et proche de «DDV», a confirmé que ce «nouveau parti politique» sera officiellement créé en juin, précisant qu'il «n'a pas pour l'instant de nom».
En Chine depuis une dizaine de jours, Dominique de Villepin doit rentrer en France en début de semaine. Il a prévu de tenir une conférence de presse jeudi pour exposer sa «vision de l'avenir». La création de son mouvement s'inscrirait logiquement dans le parcours de l'héritier du chiraquisme, qui tente depuis plusieurs mois de s'imposer comme alternative de droite à Nicolas Sarkozy. Une popularité inégalée à droite >>> Par Thomas Vampouille | Lundi 22 Mars 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Justice officials seek retrial of former prime minister over Clearstream smear campaign against President Nicolas Sarkozy
French justice authorities will appeal against the judgment clearing the former prime minister Dominique de Villepin of involvement in a plot to smear President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Paris state prosecutor said today.
"I have decided to file an appeal against this decision," Jean-Claude Marin told Europe 1 radio. "Whatever happens, there will be a second trial."
A retrial would offer Sarkozy one last chance to see his loathed rival convicted of allegedly orchestrating the campaign against him.
De Villepin denounced what he called "a political decision" which showed "that Nicolas Sarkozy prefers to persevere in his fury, in his hatred".
De Villepin was cleared yesterday of all charges levied during the "Clearstream affair", leaving Sarkozy disappointed and humiliated. >>> Lizzy Davies in Paris and agencies | Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Dominique de Villepin, the former French prime minister, was cleared on Thursday of charges that he plotted to smear his arch-rival Nicolas Sarkozy and scupper his campaign for the presidency in 2007.
The verdict in the Clearstream case is a hammer blow to Mr Sarkozy, a civil plaintiff in the case whose enmity towards Mr de Villepin - an eloquent former diplomat - is legendary. The president reportedly told aides during the investigation: "When I shoot, it's to kill, not to wound." However, the acquittal has revived Mr de Villepin's political ambitions, turning him into a potentially dangerous fellow Right-wing contender for the presidency in 2012.
The Clearstream case centred on a bogus list of account holders at a financial clearing house in Luxembourg who allegedly took bribes from the sale of French warships to Taiwan.
The president, one of 39 plaintiffs, had reportedly promised to "hang on a butcher's hook" whoever had tried to discredit him by adding his name to the list and sending it to an investigating magistrate in 2004. At the time, he and Mr de Villepin were locked in a vicious battle to succeed the then president Jacques Chirac, under whom both had served as ministers. Mr Sarkozy went on to win the presidency while Mr de Villepin's political career remained in limbo following his order to stand trial.
One of five defendants, Mr de Villepin had faced a five-year prison term and 45,000-euro (£41,000) fine for complicity to slander, complicity to use forgeries, dealing in stolen property and breach of trust.
But in a 326-page ruling read out to a packed Paris courtroom, the judge on Thursday said while Mr Villepin had handled the bogus list, there was no firm proof that he knew it was falsified nor that he had sought to discredit Mr Sarkozy by having it sent to a judge. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Thursday, January 28, 2010
*Gel bronzant par Clinique, peut-être, M. de Villepin?
Thursday, September 24, 2009
LE FIGARO: Le président a provoqué la fureur des avocats de l'ex-premier ministre en parlant mercredi soir de «coupables» à propos des prévenus de l'affaire Clearstream.
Un dérapage verbal dont s'est aussitôt emparée la défense de Dominique de Villepin. L'ex-premier ministre, jugé dans l'affaire Clearstream, a décidé jeudi d'assigner Nicolas Sarkozy pour atteinte à la présomption d'innocence. La veille, ses avocats avaient jugé «scandaleux» les propos du président de la République sur TF1 et France 2 au sujet des prévenus du procès Clearstream : «Deux juges indépendants ont estimé que les coupables devaient être traduits devant un tribunal correctionnel». Déjà «coupables», donc, aux yeux de Nicolas Sarkozy, alors qu'ils n'ont pas encore été jugés.
Regardez cette séquence en vidéo :
Uploaded by ensemble-avec-villepin. - News videos from around the world.
La défense a précisé qu'il s'agirait d'une assignation au fond et non en référé. Une «assignation au fond» signifie qu'une personne (ici Dominique de Villepin) invite une autre personne (en l'occurence, Nicolas Sarkozy), à comparaître à une date fixée par le tribunal : il s'agit d'une procédure tout à fait habituelle et souvent longue. Le référé, en revanche, est une procédure d'urgence qui permet d'obtenir dans des délais très courts une décision de justice. Une procédure inutile, puisque Nicolas Sarkozy est protégé par son immunité politique durant la durée de son mandat. Ce dernier pourrait toutefois être jugé après son départ de l'Elysée. >>> Flore Galaud (lefigaro.fr) | Jeudi 24 Septembre 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: The enmity between President Sarkozy and Dominique de Villepin, the former French Prime Minister, flared into public view at the start of a politically loaded trial over dirty tricks in the last presidential campaign.
Mr Villepin, 55, who is accused of conspiring to smear Mr Sarkozy when both were ministers under President Chirac, delivered a broadside against his former colleague as he arrived with his wife and children at the packed law courts by the Seine.
“I am here because of the decision of one man and the dogged determination of one man — Nicolas Sarkozy,” Mr Villepin said. “I will come out of this a free man and exonerated in the name of the French people. I know that truth will prevail.”
Mr Villepin’s theatrical speech contained allusions to the French Revolution and the ideals of Gaullism. The eloquent former diplomat is seeking to portray Mr Sarkozy as the instigator of the prosecution in the so-called Clearstream affair. >>> Charles Bremner in Paris | Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
THE GUARDIAN: Smear campaign charges centre on kickback claims / Clearstream trial threatens to damage country's elite
It has been billed as France's political trial of the decade, a saga worthy of the darkest spy thriller that threatens to expose poisonous machinations and backstabbing at the highest reaches of the French state.
Tomorrow morning, in the courtroom where Marie-Antoinette was ordered to be beheaded in 1793, a legal battle will begin that is unprecedented in modern French history. France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is the key plaintiff in a trial accusing the former prime minister Dominique de Villepin of running an elaborate smear campaign to damage Sarkozy's chances in the 2007 presidential election campaign. If De Villepin is found guilty of a plot to torpedo Sarkozy's political career, he could face five years in prison.
But the so-called "Clearstream" trial involves not just the all-consuming hatred and rivalry between two of France's most prominent politicians. It also threatens to damage the standing of the French intelligence services and business world. Scores of plaintiffs and witness from the highest levels of French politics, senior spies and businessmen, will take part in the trial which former president Jacques Chirac once warned would damage the entire French political class.
Sarkozy is so bent on justice that he has vowed to hang those responsible for the alleged plot "on a butcher's hook". De Villepin, who privately refers to Sarkozy as "the dwarf", denies wrongdoing, saying the president is "obsessed" and "meddling" in the justice system by forcing the case to trial.
The saga dates back to 2004, when Sarkozy and De Villepin were rival ministers under Chirac and both possible runners for the 2007 presidency. Sarkozy, the young, ambitious finance minister who had turned against Chirac, his one-time mentor, was the favourite to lead the country. De Villepin, who served as foreign and interior minister before becoming prime minister, was an aristocratic career diplomat, a Napoleon fan who Chirac called his "commando-in-chief".
In the summer of 2004, an anonymous source wrote to one of France's investigating judges, accusing a string of politicians and businessmen of holding secret bank accounts at the Luxembourg bank Clearstream. The accounts were said to have been used for laundering kickbacks from the £1.5bn sale of French frigates to Taiwan in 1991. On the lists of supposedly crooked account holders were scores of politicians from the right and left, top businessmen, leading journalists, even a famous female actor. … >>> Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Sunday, September 20, 2009
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