Dominique de Villepin Launches New French Political Party
THE TELEGRAPH: The man who hopes to depose President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012 has launched his new political party.

Observers consider that Mr Sarkozy has fared badly from the trial while Mr de Villepin has avoided any knock-out blows. Photo: The Telegraph
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


Dominic De [sic] Villepin and the Clash of Class for 'le droit'
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

French Ex-P.M. Forms Party to Go After Sarkozy
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

De Villepin gründet Anti-Sarkozy-Partei: Ex-Premier will Unzufriedenheit im konservativen Lager ausnutzen
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

EU Far-Right Groups to Form Party
BBC: Far-right political leaders from four EU nations have unveiled plans to form a pan-European "patriotic" party.

The heads of far-right parties from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria and France said their aim was to defend Europe against "Islamisation" and immigrants.

At a news conference in Vienna, they said they expected to launch the party by 15 November.

The move comes several months after the collapse of a far-right bloc in the European Parliament.

The Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty (ITS) bloc disbanded itself in November after a row between its Italian and Romanian members over race. EU far-right groups to form party >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)