MUCH OF the French public, not unlike their Italian counterparts, have had an attitude to politicians akin to the tolerant way many of our own used to regard Charles Haughey and his ilk. Before, that is, the great meltdown of Fianna Fáil. There is a reverse begrudgery, a sneaking regard for excess, for the little man made good despite the establishment.
And so, in truth, the latest round of allegations about President Nicolas Sarkozy appear unlikely to topple him or even, by themselves, cause him much distress in his campaign for re-election in eight months. The president is also protected from legal action while in office. More serious for him is the fact that polls show two-thirds of voters are convinced he is doing a bad job, although the absence of a strong Socialist candidate against him may yet pull him through again.
Compounding claims already in the public domain for over a year that Mr Sarkozy’s party had received illegal donations from Liliane Bettencourt, the 88-year-old LOréal heiress, a presiding judge in Nanterre, Isabelle Prévost-Desprez, has now told two journalists that a nurse to Ms Bettencourt witnessed her boss handing an indeterminate amount of cash to Mr Sarkozy personally. She spoke of her sense in investigating Mr Sarkozy of both the fear manifested by witnesses and that France’s judicial machine was under his control. The nurse refused to testify and has since denied the claim, as has the president most emphatically.
The Bettencourt affair has also taken another twist with the revelation – admitted by the state – that the counter-intelligence services accessed the mobile phone records of a Le Mondejournalist to track his source of leaks. A suspected civil servant was subsequently transferred to French Guiana. The story echoes claims made in November by the paper Le Canard Enchainéthat Mr Sarkozy ordered and supervised the surveillance of journalists who were involved in "annoying" investigations.
Mr Sarkozy will be counting on denial and the traditional French indifferent shrug, “boff!”, to carry him through again. But an Irish friend might be kind enough to advise him that eventually the worm may turn.