For the first time in the history of the V Republic of France, a head of state will sit on the dock of a court in Paris. Is scheduled after tomorrow, when Jacques Chirac, French president from 1995 to 2007, appearing in a case of corruption, embezzlement of public funds and cronyism happened 20 years ago, in ancient times almost as mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.
The trial actually starts tomorrow, but the politician, 78 with mobility problems, hip and ear, who faces a possible sentence of 10 years, probably will get rid of this first session, reserved for procedural issues. The episode on the judges Chirac is a classic of French politics. The City of Paris, turned into a political headquarters since his appointment as mayor, served as a screen (and register) to disguise some thirty non-existent jobs.
Funds paid by the City, these 30 people did not have any municipal work. Most of them were attached to the Rally for the Republic (RPR), the political party created by Chirac in 1976 and born in 2002, Sarkozy's UMP, and carrying out work for this training. Or not. The lawyer Pierre-Francois Divier, in the cause from the beginning, recalled on Thursday in a radio station that not all these jobs tricked corresponded to work in RPR, "There were people who were paid for doing nothing.
This is very important because the defense probably will argue that the law on financing political parties was so flawed. But many of the jobs were out of pure friendship, and had no job base. " Just look at some of the conclusions of the indictment to get an idea of the system: "One woman acknowledged that the mission entrusted to him did not exist, that their presence in the City was void, and his work, very small." "Another man had no office at City Hall.
Did not appear in the chart. It spent the day in the corridors of the National Assembly ...". In fact, the case started when in 1999 the French judicial police, following a complaint by a taxpayer, he discovered a handwritten letter from Chirac himself calling for a promotion for a secretary, in theory attached to the City ...
that had nine years working for the RPR without stepping on any municipal agency. None of this is new. In fact, it is very old. What is judged from tomorrow is whether Chirac was aware of this system, which was a decline in revenues of the City Hall 2.2 million euros. Money that ended up in the form of monthly payroll, in the pockets of missing drivers, secretaries who never appeared or called municipal employees smoke-filled orders.
Now it is necessary to ascertain the extent to which Chirac was at the front (or both) of the system. To the judge who has dealt with the case no doubt: "It was at once the inventor, author and recipient of the device." In some of his statements in the instructional process, Chirac has argued, first, that he did not deal with the daily operation of the RPR and, secondly, that the jobs reported were "legitimate" and "useful to the city of Paris ".
But beyond these comments, the real strategy of the French president, to judge by prosecutors, has been to endlessly postpone a process with the hope that over time it would take over him. At first it was easy: the position of President Chirac protected by the courts until 2007. Then there was also delaying tactics and maneuvers to delay indefinitely the appointment with the court.
Until the last moment. On Friday, one of the attorneys for the other defendants in the trial brought a constitutional motion that the court should deal with tomorrow and that could delay the hearing. But if the trial was postponed, as seems likely, the old ghost jobs for the veteran politician will be caught at their worst, almost withdrawn from public life, confined to watered-down interviews in Paris Match in which he speaks Chinese art - one of his passions, to appear in the photos of the wedding of his daughter or any charitable appearances.
Chirac, however, is a leader who still enjoys widespread support in France, gained a reputation for folksy, straight talking friend and telling dirty jokes without much nuance. A few days ago came to the Fair of Agriculture, as every year: your picture next to the forehead of a cow is a classic, and confirmed its popular appeal.
Pragmatic, able to change course under the circumstances, Chirac has been around in French politics: among other things, he was secretary of state in May 1968 alongside his admired mentor Georges Pompidou, prime minister with the hated-but fellow - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Prime Minister with the more tolerated, though socialist François Mitterrand, losing in two rounds of presidential elections and, finally, president for 12 years.
He now lives a kind of paradoxical political resurrection. Sarkozy appointed last week as Foreign Minister and Cabinet's point man Alain Juppe, a former prime minister, Chirac always associate and sentenced in 2004 to 14 months imprisonment (sentence suspended) and one year of ineligibility for the same fake jobs case, as responsible for the RPR.
That is: while Chirac dilated almost endlessly the case, his partner gave him time to suffer, pay the penalty, punishing a desert crossing, rebirth, and bolted back to power again. Within months, Chirac will publish the second and expected volume of his memoirs-the first did not recognize even a single mistake in his career, and who knows him says that boredom, inaction and, especially, the recent death of Some friends have damaged its hitherto unyielding character.
"At this rate, who will say a eulogy at my funeral? You say things you will not feel," he complained, according to the weekly Le Point, one of his young excolaboradores. A few months ago, the Paris City Hall resigned to stand as a prosecution after reaching an agreement with the UMP and Chirac himself, who have pledged to return the money filched.
The former pay 550,000 euros, the party will pay the rest. Nor is it sufficient to suspend the trial. Some have speculated that Chirac plays a final letter Trileros: its health. It seems unlikely. LeJournal du Dimanche published on 30 January that the president was suffering from memory loss.
But his wife, Bernadette, appeared the following day explaining that her husband suffered from Alzheimer's. "He's a warrior to be presented", he added. Chirac himself, aged, but apparently lucid, was interviewed that day at the door of his house in the heart of Paris, near the Seine opposite the Louvre.
"I'm good," he told the camera, smiling. "Behave you too." 
The trial actually starts tomorrow, but the politician, 78 with mobility problems, hip and ear, who faces a possible sentence of 10 years, probably will get rid of this first session, reserved for procedural issues. The episode on the judges Chirac is a classic of French politics. The City of Paris, turned into a political headquarters since his appointment as mayor, served as a screen (and register) to disguise some thirty non-existent jobs.
Funds paid by the City, these 30 people did not have any municipal work. Most of them were attached to the Rally for the Republic (RPR), the political party created by Chirac in 1976 and born in 2002, Sarkozy's UMP, and carrying out work for this training. Or not. The lawyer Pierre-Francois Divier, in the cause from the beginning, recalled on Thursday in a radio station that not all these jobs tricked corresponded to work in RPR, "There were people who were paid for doing nothing.
This is very important because the defense probably will argue that the law on financing political parties was so flawed. But many of the jobs were out of pure friendship, and had no job base. " Just look at some of the conclusions of the indictment to get an idea of the system: "One woman acknowledged that the mission entrusted to him did not exist, that their presence in the City was void, and his work, very small." "Another man had no office at City Hall.
Did not appear in the chart. It spent the day in the corridors of the National Assembly ...". In fact, the case started when in 1999 the French judicial police, following a complaint by a taxpayer, he discovered a handwritten letter from Chirac himself calling for a promotion for a secretary, in theory attached to the City ...
that had nine years working for the RPR without stepping on any municipal agency. None of this is new. In fact, it is very old. What is judged from tomorrow is whether Chirac was aware of this system, which was a decline in revenues of the City Hall 2.2 million euros. Money that ended up in the form of monthly payroll, in the pockets of missing drivers, secretaries who never appeared or called municipal employees smoke-filled orders.
Now it is necessary to ascertain the extent to which Chirac was at the front (or both) of the system. To the judge who has dealt with the case no doubt: "It was at once the inventor, author and recipient of the device." In some of his statements in the instructional process, Chirac has argued, first, that he did not deal with the daily operation of the RPR and, secondly, that the jobs reported were "legitimate" and "useful to the city of Paris ".
But beyond these comments, the real strategy of the French president, to judge by prosecutors, has been to endlessly postpone a process with the hope that over time it would take over him. At first it was easy: the position of President Chirac protected by the courts until 2007. Then there was also delaying tactics and maneuvers to delay indefinitely the appointment with the court.
Until the last moment. On Friday, one of the attorneys for the other defendants in the trial brought a constitutional motion that the court should deal with tomorrow and that could delay the hearing. But if the trial was postponed, as seems likely, the old ghost jobs for the veteran politician will be caught at their worst, almost withdrawn from public life, confined to watered-down interviews in Paris Match in which he speaks Chinese art - one of his passions, to appear in the photos of the wedding of his daughter or any charitable appearances.
Chirac, however, is a leader who still enjoys widespread support in France, gained a reputation for folksy, straight talking friend and telling dirty jokes without much nuance. A few days ago came to the Fair of Agriculture, as every year: your picture next to the forehead of a cow is a classic, and confirmed its popular appeal.
Pragmatic, able to change course under the circumstances, Chirac has been around in French politics: among other things, he was secretary of state in May 1968 alongside his admired mentor Georges Pompidou, prime minister with the hated-but fellow - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Prime Minister with the more tolerated, though socialist François Mitterrand, losing in two rounds of presidential elections and, finally, president for 12 years.
He now lives a kind of paradoxical political resurrection. Sarkozy appointed last week as Foreign Minister and Cabinet's point man Alain Juppe, a former prime minister, Chirac always associate and sentenced in 2004 to 14 months imprisonment (sentence suspended) and one year of ineligibility for the same fake jobs case, as responsible for the RPR.
That is: while Chirac dilated almost endlessly the case, his partner gave him time to suffer, pay the penalty, punishing a desert crossing, rebirth, and bolted back to power again. Within months, Chirac will publish the second and expected volume of his memoirs-the first did not recognize even a single mistake in his career, and who knows him says that boredom, inaction and, especially, the recent death of Some friends have damaged its hitherto unyielding character.
"At this rate, who will say a eulogy at my funeral? You say things you will not feel," he complained, according to the weekly Le Point, one of his young excolaboradores. A few months ago, the Paris City Hall resigned to stand as a prosecution after reaching an agreement with the UMP and Chirac himself, who have pledged to return the money filched.
The former pay 550,000 euros, the party will pay the rest. Nor is it sufficient to suspend the trial. Some have speculated that Chirac plays a final letter Trileros: its health. It seems unlikely. LeJournal du Dimanche published on 30 January that the president was suffering from memory loss.
But his wife, Bernadette, appeared the following day explaining that her husband suffered from Alzheimer's. "He's a warrior to be presented", he added. Chirac himself, aged, but apparently lucid, was interviewed that day at the door of his house in the heart of Paris, near the Seine opposite the Louvre.
"I'm good," he told the camera, smiling. "Behave you too."
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