Back to Brussels Blog homepage
From Elba to Bulgaria: the life story of Dominique de Villepin
November 20, 2008
It is unfortunate that Dominique de Villepin, the former French prime minister, must stand trial for alleged involvement in a plot to smear his compatriot, President Nicolas Sarkozy. Unfortunate for de Villepin, and unfortunate also for Sergey Stanishev, Bulgaria’s socialist prime minister.
Only a week before the sad news about de Villepin came out, Stanishev announced with great solemnity that he had appointed the French ex-premier to chair a panel of eminent foreigners who will advise the Bulgarian government. Their specific task will be to help Bulgaria overcome its massive problems with corruption, organised crime and a rotten judicial system.
Many of Bulgaria’s fellow European Union member-states are fed up to the back teeth with Bulgaria’s failure to tackle these problems. The European Commission must decide soon whether to drive the point home by permanently denying Bulgaria hundreds of millions of euros in aid that it suspended in July.
Stanishev’s creation of a board of foreign advisers is not such a bad idea. And it would be churlish to suggest, as some have, that Stanishev’s appointees are perhaps not quite from the topmost drawer of European public life. They include Josep Piqué, a former Spanish foreign minister; António Vitorino of Portugal, a former EU commissioner for justice and home affairs; Finland’s Aunus Salmi, a former member of the European Court of Auditors; Paul Demaret, the rector of the College of Europe, the post-graduate school in the Belgian city of Bruges; and, of course, de Villepin.
Each in his own way will make a significant contribution to the panel and to its understanding of corruption, organised crime and judicial hanky-panky.
As for de Villepin, one cannot repeat too often that all individuals, including former French prime ministers accused of using the intelligence services to wreck the political career of a future head of state, are innocent until proven guilty.
What seems beyond question is de Villepin’s fascination, as a prolific poet and historian as well as politician, with the concept of the great leader who falls heroically into the abyss. Just look at his 634-page work on Napoleon Bonaparte, entitled “The Hundred Days, or the Spirit of Sacrifice”, which chronicles the French emperor’s escape from Elba and return to power in France until his final defeat at Waterloo in June 1815.
Vive l’empereur!
I lived in France when all this was happening. It was all quite shocking, like reliving Watergate in the US, but it felt more like living in a state — of anarchy. But as you’re very right to point out, there should be the presumption of innocence. Angelique Chrisafis in The Guardian has an article today about Rachid Dati’s troubles. I wanted to share part of what Chrisafis wrote, which was insightful:
Posted by: Nicolette | November 20th, 2008 at 3:00 pm | Report this comment“In France, it is common for presidents to pluck ministers from non-political life, such as the former prime minister Dominique de Villepin, who had never held elected office. But it makes these ministers vulnerable.”
I’m from Bulgaria and the news that Dominique de Villepin was going to help fight corruption and organized crime was seen as a great chance for the Country to move ahead from it’s shady post-communist transition period. Now we are on the road to elections and things are getting hot in the political life … I have to say that I’m very pessimistic about the future!
Posted by: P_L | November 21st, 2008 at 8:34 am | Report this commentThe advisory panel was (and I wish to believe that still is) a way to tackle the problems head on …
Unfortunately, Nicolette, M de Villepin may not have been so vulnerable as you infer. It’s a well-told story in France, that whenever Chirac felt himself challenged by someone, then he could rely on M de V to extricate him. M de V was long-time head of Chirac’s office, a trusted ally who, it is said, knew how to “dig the dirt” on someone, and then how to feed that to reliable sources in the media.
His ascension to the office of PM could, thus, be seen as a bonus for his previous efforts. And it would be easy to claim that when Chirac realised that Sarkozy would unseat him …. it was time to call on the previously trusted routines once more.
If these stories were true, then M de Villepin sounds like someone who could well advise the Bulgarian government on corruption, etc. But, on how to prevent it, or how to do it???
Posted by: Derek Tunnicliffe | November 21st, 2008 at 3:51 pm | Report this commentI am also from Bulgaria….and I agree a 100 % with this comment for Bulgaria….and can find and give more informaton for “bottle-neck” problems in political and economis issues in our country
Posted by: JORDAN | November 26th, 2008 at 4:11 pm | Report this comment[…] As for what nation, or nations, might fall under the control of the dastardly Eurasians, it’s unclear if the US intelligence folk are thinking of countries already in the EU or countries outside. Inside, you would have to go for Bulgaria on present form - unless Dominique de Villepin can work his magic. […]
Posted by: FT.com | Brussels Blog | Ethnic unrest and Eurasian criminals: America’s view of Europe in 2025 | December 1st, 2008 at 1:49 pm | Report this comment