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Chirac 'is depressed'
22/06/2006 19:19 - (SA)
Paris - Jacques Chirac is down in the
dumps, a conservative ally said on Thursday, voicing concern
about the French president who has been politically hurt by
youth riots, labour protests and his gaffe-prone prime minister.
The 73-year old president has come under pressure from
members of his own UMP party to sack Prime Minister Dominique de
Villepin after his protege denounced the opposition leader as a
coward on Tuesday, setting off a political firestorm.
The president has not yet commented on the latest row to
swamp his government and Paul-Henri Cugnenc, a UMP deputy, said
Chirac did not appear as vibrant as in the past.
He's got the blues
"You can see a certain amount of tiredness in him, which is
astonishing because before he was always hyper-active," said
Cugnenc, who is also a senior doctor at a Paris hospital.
"I think he is a little bit depressed ... it's a case of the
blues in the popular sense of the word, not a medical depression
requiring treatment," he told Le Parisien daily.
Chirac's health has become an issue of debate ever since he
was secretly admitted to hospital last September for a blood
vessel problem that affected his vision and caused headaches.
Although doctors have since given him a clean bill of
health, Chirac's specific condition has remained vague.
Chirac should have celebrated a high point in his presidency
this week, when he inaugurated Paris's "Musee du Quai Branly", a
giant new museum on tribal art that he has championed.
But the glamorous opening ceremony was utterly overshadowed
by Villepin's "cowardice" barb against Socialist leader Francois
Hollande, which has dominated the newspaper headlines.
Sadness
Le Figaro daily quoted one minister who attended a reception
at the Elysee presidential palace on Tuesday as saying there was
"a lot of sadness" in Chirac's eyes.
Chirac's popularity ratings have slid in recent months and
commentators say that after more than 11 years in office, he is
very unlikely to seek another term in next year's election.
But some allies say the conservative bloc risks losing the
vote whoever stands because of Villepin's confrontational style
of politics and have urged Chirac to axe his ally before the
July 14 national holiday that kicks off the summer recess.
Segolene Royal, the Socialist frontrunner for the 2007
election, added pressure on Chirac on Thursday, saying France's
voice in the world had become "inaudible".
"Jacques Chirac's nice speeches on human rights and the
environment are not being applied. This is ridiculing our
country and ruining its credibility," she told Le Monde daily in
one of the first outlines of her foreign policy proposals.
Villepin became prime minister in June 2005 but his star has
waned dramatically in recent months following widespread rioting
in the suburbs, a failed bid to loosen up employment laws and
accusations he tried to smear his own interior minister.
- Reuters
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