FRANCE:Before Nicolas Sarkozy became president, French prime ministers were considered fusibles - fuses or fall-guys who cushioned the leader from the street and resigned when things got bad.
But France's hyper-president leaves little room for any of his ministers to exist in the public eye. When he accompanied Christine Lagarde, the finance minister, to her first Ecofin meeting last summer, Mr Sarkozy hogged the limelight. This week, when he went to Brittany to talk to fishermen who were blocking fuel depots, the agriculture minister, Michel Barnier, was sidelined.
The president's men and women usually swallow their pride. But in a careless moment this week, prime minister François Fillon let the truth slip.
Didn't he ever want to rush off to N'Djamena, Brittany or Washington, the director of Europe 1 radio station asked Mr Fillon as they walked through the corridors after a programme?
"Half the time, I want to go there myself, and it's already too late [ because Mr Sarkozy has gone]," Mr Fillon confessed, forgetting that a small camera was filming him. "And then, often the problem is that [ Mr Sarkozy] doesn't want me to go."
You'd think politicians would have learned by now that no comment is ever "off". The prime minister's remarks were on YouTube within hours, and were particularly embarrassing when contrasted with his earlier, on-air response to a similar question.
In August, Mr Fillon dared to take public offence at Mr Sarkozy calling him his "collaborator". He told Europe 1 radio station that he thinks of himself as a "co-ordinator" of government action. "We're a very tight team," he added, speaking of "total complicity" between himself and the president.
Mr Fillon insisted that his answer as recorded on the YouTube video was a joke.
"I'm criticised for not being present enough in the media, and today, by the magic of internet, I'm a star!" he wrote in his blog. "Yes, a prime minister can have a sense of humour and talk in a relaxed manner with a journalist when he's leaving a radio station."
At the end of October, the Balladur commission on institutional reform - created by Mr Sarkozy - recommended that France's constitution be changed to reflect the president's real power. Instead of saying, "The government determines and conducts the policies of the nation", it may say in the future: "The president of the Republic defines the policies of the nation. The government carries them out."