As former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is before the courts for his implication in the Affaire Clearstream (more on that next week) the former Président de la République is suddenly nowhere to be seen.

I’ve been asked about the roles of the Président and the Premier Ministre in the past, but without going deep into constitutional affairs (don’t cry, maybe we will another day) by far the most important role of the French Prime Minister is to take the fall for the President.

When François Mitterrand was having trouble in 1991, he sacked Michel Rocard and appointed Édith Cresson. Then when that didn’t work out, in came Pierre Bérégovoy in 1992.

Jacques Chirac, however, tends to swim in muddier waters. His Prime Minister, Alain Juppé, was tried and convicted in 2004, charged with the abuse of public funds when City of Paris personnel were used for right-wing party political purposes. (My coursemates will of course remember that Juppé was Chair of the Rassemblement pour la République, which later become Sarkozy’s Union pour un Mouvement Populiare.)

Juppé and Chirac: Let me take care of this

Juppé was the only one convicted, but many people believed that he was not the only person responsible. In fact, it’s a little hard to believe the Chirac had nothing to do with it. Juppé never spoke about it.

Coming back to Clearstream, de Villepin is taking the same line in refusing to involve the former president, quite surprising since his future career rests on him not getting into too much trouble.

One President de Villepin isn’t trying to protect is Sarkozy. As they fight it out between themselves, you can bet Chirac won’t be standing in the crossfire.