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Villepin candidacy shakes up presidential battle
Source: Agencies |
December 13, 2011, Tuesday
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FORMER French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who gained international renown as France's spokesman against the war in Iraq, has shaken up the presidential campaign by announcing he'll run as an independent.
The announcement on Sunday night on French television is likely to complicate life for both the Socialist candidate, Francois Hollande, and President Nicolas Sarkozy, who runs the UMP party that Villepin served under.
By positioning himself as a centrist, Villepin could siphon votes from both the other candidates. But the move was primarily seen in France as a finger in the eye of Sarkozy, as the two men are bitter rivals.
Villepin was acquitted in September of charges that he took part in a smear campaign against Sarkozy. On Sunday, he criticized Sarkozy for not protecting France's interests at a recent EU summit and imposing budget cuts.
With growth slowing and difficult budget cuts likely ahead, both Hollande and Sarkozy have tried to paint themselves as beyond partisanship .
Villepin, too, said his candidacy will eschew party politics and distanced himself on Sunday from the UMP.
"I am not for the republic of parties. I don't believe that truth lies on the right, on the left or in the center," he hold TF1 television.
He said that France had been humiliated by "the law of the markets that keep imposing on us more austerity."
He also dismissed a deal forged last week to bind the countries that use the euro closer together, including giving Brussels more oversight over national budgets. Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were the primary authors of the accord.
Members of the UMP denounced Villepin's decision, saying he risked splitting the party.
The election will take place in April and May.
The announcement on Sunday night on French television is likely to complicate life for both the Socialist candidate, Francois Hollande, and President Nicolas Sarkozy, who runs the UMP party that Villepin served under.
By positioning himself as a centrist, Villepin could siphon votes from both the other candidates. But the move was primarily seen in France as a finger in the eye of Sarkozy, as the two men are bitter rivals.
Villepin was acquitted in September of charges that he took part in a smear campaign against Sarkozy. On Sunday, he criticized Sarkozy for not protecting France's interests at a recent EU summit and imposing budget cuts.
With growth slowing and difficult budget cuts likely ahead, both Hollande and Sarkozy have tried to paint themselves as beyond partisanship .
Villepin, too, said his candidacy will eschew party politics and distanced himself on Sunday from the UMP.
"I am not for the republic of parties. I don't believe that truth lies on the right, on the left or in the center," he hold TF1 television.
He said that France had been humiliated by "the law of the markets that keep imposing on us more austerity."
He also dismissed a deal forged last week to bind the countries that use the euro closer together, including giving Brussels more oversight over national budgets. Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were the primary authors of the accord.
Members of the UMP denounced Villepin's decision, saying he risked splitting the party.
The election will take place in April and May.
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