French President Jacques Chirac's closest ally and chosen heir, the former prime minister, Alain Juppe, vowed on Tuesday night to stay in politics and fight a corruption conviction that has shaken the French president and his ruling center-right party.
As three separate inquiries were launched into alleged dirty tricks against the judges who sentenced him, Juppe -- mayor of Bordeaux, a member of parliament, and chairman of Chirac's UMP party -- said he had appealed against the conviction and "since the appeal suspends the sentence, I will continue in my duties."
Juppe said his first instinct had been to "turn the page" and quit politics, but he had since reconsidered. The decision affords Chirac some respite by averting an immediate and potentially catastrophic UMP power struggle.
PHOTO: AFP
But that battle is only deferred: Juppe said he would not stand for re-election as the head of the party at polls in November. Nonetheless, if the appeal is successful, there remains a slim hope for Chirac that his most loyal lieutenant may yet succeed him.
A Nanterre court on Friday gave Juppe an 18-month suspended sentence and banned him from holding elected office for a decade, finding him guilty of using Paris taxpayers' money to pay the salaries of full-time staff from Chirac's previous party, the RPR.
If the verdict rocked the right, the extraordinary shower of praise for Juppe from his Gaullist allies has prompted widespread criticism that France's political elite cannot accept it should be subject to the same justice as voters.
The president of the French magistrates' union, Dominique Barella, said yesterday the campaign by Juppe's allies showed France was "still, democratically, a developing country whose elected officials have yet to absorb the notion of judicial independence."
Liberation called such declarations -- and attacks on the justice system -- as "unworthy of a genuine democracy," while Le Monde branded them "stupefying."
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said he was "surprised" at the verdict, which was "only provisional," and that France "needs men like Alain Juppe."
A senior UMP senator, Josselin de Rohan, professed himself "indignant that a man of such quality should be treated as a wrongdoer," and the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Eric Raoult, called the verdict as "disproportionate, hypocritical and cynical."
In what amounts to a concerted challenge to the judicial system, the president's wife, Bernadette, has chimed in, describing Juppe as "a great statesman," while Chirac called a "politician of an exceptional quality of competence, humanity ... and honesty."
Noel Mamere, a Green member of parliament , said the right in general, and the president in particular, were "giving an extremely bad impression of France ... We look like a banana republic."
Juppe, 58, was both RPR chairman and responsible for Paris town hall's finances during much of the period from 1978 to 1995, when Chirac was mayor.
His conviction is seen as a condemnation of the entire illegal party financing system allegedly masterminded by Chirac to turn the town hall into a launch pad for his presidency.
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 off northern Japan on Monday prompted a short-lived tsunami alert and the advisory of a higher risk of a possible mega-quake for coastal areas there. The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 1% chance for a mega-quake, compared to a 0.1% chance during normal times, in the next week or so following the powerful quake near the Chishima and Japan trenches. Officials said the advisory was not a quake prediction but urged residents in 182 towns along the northeastern coasts to raise their preparedness while continuing their daily lives. Prime
RSS