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| Affiliation | Republican Refoundation |
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| <- |
2012-01-01 |
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| Name | Jean-Pierre Chevènement |
| Address |
Belfort, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté , France |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
March 09, 1939
(85 years)
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| Contributor | User 215 |
| Last Modifed | Juan Croniqueur
May 08, 2024 06:01pm |
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| Info | Jean-Pierre Chevenement has been called lots of things, but one thing his worst enemies cannot say is that he is not a man of principle.
In a 20-year career as a minister, he has made resignation an art form - storming out on three separate occasions because he could not bear the compromises of government.
As he put it in 1983: "A minister keeps his mouth shut. Once he opens it, he's out."
For those who admire him, the silver-haired 63-year-old - widely known as Che - is one of the few French politicians brave enough to find his line, and then stick to it.
These are the "republican" principles that form his creed - nation, secularism, solidarity among citizens, law and order.
And here are the things Che hates - American capitalism, multi-culturalism, devolution.
In other words, Mr Chevenement represents a peculiarly French mix of values - one that reflects the country's twin historical legacy of overweening nation-state and humanist light unto the world.
For his friends, he combines the best of nationalism and the best of socialism.
Liberals say he should call himself a Nationalist Socialist and be done with it.
Born in 1939 in the eastern city of Belfort - of which he is today the mayor - Mr Chevenement entered politics in the 1960s. When Francois Mitterrand founded the Socialist party in 1971, the Chevenement clique formed part of its left wing.
In 1981 he joined Mitterrand's first government, but two years later he staged the first of his resignations over a rightward drift in economic policy.
In 1991 he was defence minister and stepped down again over French participation in the Gulf War.
"The French don't expect their defence minister to act the Rambos," he said at the time.
Two years later he left the Socialists and founded his own party, the Citizens' Movement (MDC).
His last resignation came in 2000.
As interior minister, he objected to Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's plans to hand down limited self-government powers to the island of Corsica and stood down to fight it from the sidelines.
Mr Chevenement's presidential bid started in a burst of energy and optimism.
The distinctiveness of his ideas gives him a clear political "brand", and his genial persona has won him friends.
A 1998 brush with death, when he went into a coma during a routine operation and fought his way back to public life, also ensured him sympathy.
With many voters unhappy with the duopoly of power represented by Mr Jospin and incumbent president Jacques Chirac, Mr Chevenement became a possible "third man".
Among his supporters are dissident Gaullists who like his tough language on the nation, his longstanding opposition to the Maastricht treaty and the single currency, and his hard-line views on immigration.
But he also appeals to the traditional left with his suspicion of the free market and his loathing of America.
In a New Year's card which he sent out two years ago, he famously had himself depicted booting a top-hatted capitalist up the rear-end.
By facing both ways, Mr Chevenement could legitimately claim to be the cross-party "rassembleur" that the French like to see in their president.
But the early rush of confidence has since faded, as the leader of the "Republican axis" has fallen back in the polls.
Maybe French voters instinctively feel the problems of the world are too complex to be answered by Che's sweeping republicanism.
And in politics, the resigning habit is not one to over-cultivate.
Principle is all well and good, but the public expects its leaders to have a little give as well.
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