FRANCE: The French prime minister and interior minister reportedly had a "huge row" yesterday morning, in the midst of the campaign for the European constitution which is going badly for the government, writes Lara Marlowe, in Paris
For the past month, all opinion polls have shown a majority of voters will say No in a May 29th referendum. The latest put the gap at 55 per cent Yes, 45 per cent No.
Dominique de Villepin, the interior minister, angered Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin by telling Europe 1 radio station that government policy must change after the referendum. Mr Raffarin's approval rating has sunk to 29 per cent.
As France's foreign minister in 2003, Mr de Villepin made a rousing speech in the United Nations against the US invasion of Iraq. Since January, he has let it be known that he wants Mr Raffarin's job. To Mr de Villepin's fury, the imperturbable Mr Raffarin chided him on French television last month, criticising cabinet ministers who "play it solo".
Mr de Villepin is a protege of President Jacques Chirac. When the No vote began gaining ground, he begged the president to make him prime minister, saying he alone could save the referendum. More recently, he told the president he would pick up the pieces if the No side wins.
In a recent conversation with Nouvel Observateur magazine, Mr de Villepin predicted he would be prime minister within two months, and that he would be the right's presidential candidate in 2007.
Asked by Europe 1 whether he wanted to be prime minister, Mr de Villepin replied: "All my life I prepared myself and trained myself to do a certain number of things corresponding to my ideals. After, it's a question of destiny . . . It is those above us [ ie President Chirac] who decide."
Mr de Villepin's criticism of Mr Raffarin was clear. "Whatever the answer [ to the referendum], the feelings expressed by the French will have an effect on national politics," he said.
By noting that he had seen Mr Chirac earlier in the day, Mr de Villepin gave the impression he had the president's blessing.
"To save the Yes to the European constitution, Jacques Chirac has made clear about 40 days in advance that he will make a sacrificial lamb of Jean-Pierre Raffarin," said Pierre-Luc Seguillon, a commentator on LCI television.
In a further indication of disarray on the right, Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of the ruling UMP party - whom Mr de Villepin has dismissed as "too American" to become president of France - said he doubted Mr Chirac had asked Mr de Villepin to criticise the prime minister.
It showed a loss of nerve "which we'd already seen in 1997", a reference to when Mr de Villepin persuaded Mr Chirac to call an early election. The interior minister's comments were "neither elegant nor efficacious," Mr Sarkozy added.
The rift coincided with a visit to Paris by Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief. He told students at the Institute of Political Science that if France votes No, "you run the risk of negating the hope for a better Europe and for a greater balance in the world . . . Some American neo-conservatives are also hostile to the constitution precisely because they see it as a sign of a new rise in Europe's power."