CHIRAC/VILLEPIN/SARKOZY AND THE CLEARSTREAM SCANDAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 003178 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/01/2016 TAGS: PGOV FR EUN PINR SUBJECT: CHIRAC/VILLEPIN/SARKOZY AND THE CLEARSTREAM SCANDAL REF: A. PARIS POINTS OF 5/2 - 5/11 ¶B. PARIS 3152 Classified By: Acting DCM Josiah Rosenblatt for reasons 1.4 (B & D). ¶1. (C) Summary. As ref A Paris Points document, the "Clearstream" scandal has become a classic French "affaire d'etat," a scandal which threatens the life of the government and the careers of many leading political, judicial, and even military figures. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin continues to occupy the position of chief presumed villain, as the prime force, if not necessarily the original instigator, behind false allegations that Interior Minister Sarkozy had received kickbacks through the Luxembourg Clearstream bank. The most recent revelations are likely to result in increased pressure for Villepin's resignation, not least because President Chirac could decide he has no choice but to dispose of his Prime Minister and erstwhile political heir in order to protect himself. The calculations are complicated for Interior Minister Sarkozy, but his choices may be narrowing, as it becomes less tenable for him to succeed Villepin given new allegations that Chirac may have been complicit in a campaign to persecute him. The cumulative effect of the revelations of the past week may push him to leave a much weakened and divided government considerably earlier than anticipated. This, in turn, raises the specter of the president of the dominant party of the center-right running what in effect would be an opposition or counter-government while members of his own party still control the Presidency and run the government. The spectacle of an increasingly divided and scandal-ridden right will of course redound primarily to the advantage of the opposition Socialist party. End summary. Background of a growing political crisis -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Rumors that kickbacks from France's 1991 sale of frigates to Taiwan were being deposited in the Luxembourg banking house Clearstream have muddied the waters since about ¶2001. But they did not take on political significance until 2004, when then-Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin -- as he now readily admits -- asked one of France's top spymasters, then working in the Defense Ministry, to investigate a list of accounts purportedly held by a number of France's top political figures. Most prominent among these was current Interior Minister, center-right UMP party �A;president and leading presidential contender Nicolas Sarkozy, who however is also regarded by President Chirac and his protege Villepin as their primary political adversary. ¶3. (SBU) Although the spymaster quickly determined that the listings had been falsified, they were subsequently forwarded anonymously to a judge for further legal inquiries. But most importantly, no one bothered to tell Sarkozy that he had been investigated -- and cleared -- until 2005. The slow-fused time bomb began to tick when Sarkozy took over the Interior Ministry last summer and grabbed the opportunity to find out more about what had transpired behind his back. The bomb finally exploded this month, as questions mounted about who had done what, and known what, when, and as the leading center-left daily, Le Monde, and then other media, began to carry leaked information about the immaculate notebooks kept by the spymaster, which recorded not only dates of critical meetings but provided intriguing details about the substance of the meetings. (Note: Please see ref A Paris Points for a more detailed discussion of these developments.) Involving the Prime Minister, perhaps the President -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Villepin was subjected to an initial eruption of public indignation that forced him to acknowledge his role in ordering the investigations. He, and indirectly Chirac, appeared to have survived this initial wave when he finally acknowledged that he had indeed ordered the investigations in his role as then-foreign minister, insisted that he had only sought "verification" of the falsified listings, was not focused on a political witch-hunt, and insisted that Chirac had had absolutely no role in or knowledge of the investigations. Shortly thereafter, Chirac took to the airwaves to express his full confidence in Villepin and his government. Villepin gave the impression of thinking the worst was over, and Sarkozy appeared content to remain in the government at least until justice had been allowed to run its course. ¶5. (SBU) That uneasy calm ended on May 12 when Le Monde published further entries from the spymaster's notebooks. They cite Chirac's desire for direct contact between the spymaster and Villepin; indicate that Chirac was kept informed of the spymaster's reports through meetings with his chief military advisor; document Villepin's insistence on continuing the investigation of Sarkozy even after the spymaster had concluded that the Clearstream listings PARIS 00003178 002 OF 003 implicating Sarkozy were false; chronicle defense minister Alliot-Marie's anger over the spymaster's ties with Villepin over her head but also her decision not to get involved (or inform Sarkozy); and identify a Villepin confidant as the likely source of the falsifications. While the revelations do not answer the question of whether Villepin, or eventually Chirac, instigated the falsifications or simply attempted to exploit them for maximum political advantage, another entry notes that Villepin believed that public knowledge of their roles would be extremely damaging. Political Stakes Growing -------------- ¶6. (C) Although Chirac has objected to a "dictatorship of rumors" and insisted that the facts of the Clearstream affair be determined through longer, legal evidentiary proceedings rather than snap judgments about unsubstantiated leaks to the media, the new revelations have far-reaching repercussions for the current government, the governing UMP party of which Sarkozy is president, and the 2007 presidential elections. In such a high-stakes environment, it is likely that political judgments will ultimately hold sway over legal niceties. But the calculations are especially difficult ones for Sarkozy: -- The latest revelations will increase the pressure on Villepin to resign, given his apparently increasingly direct and obsessive role in seeking to smear Sarkozy. -- To the extent that circumstantial evidence builds against Villepin, Chirac will come under increasing pressure to reverse his support of Villepin and request his resignation. That still seems unlikely at this stage, given the record of Chirac's past, tenacious support. If, however, it were the only way for Chirac to protect himself from further damage from the scandal, he could drop Villepin. -- In that regard, it is conventional wisdom that under almost no circumstances would Chirac dissolve the parliament and call early elections, a choice he made in 1997 -- under far more favorable circumstances -- to disastrous effect. -- The calculations are perhaps the most complicated for Sarkozy. He had planned to leave the government later in the year or in early 2007, following his selection as the party's presidential candidate. In the early stages of the current crisis, even when it was clear that Villepin was the probable instigator of the smear campaign against him, Sarkozy was prepared to let the judicial investigation run its course, effectively "postponing" a final judgment about whether to remain in the government. This would have allowed him to maintain the fiction of working together with other members of the government while keeping a distance through his forward-looking policy pronouncements as president of the UMP, the main party of the right. -- However, this fiction was largely predicated on Chirac's non-involvement in Clearstream and a minimum of plausible deniability for Villepin. If it turns out that both were plotting against him -- and that's where the latest revelations are leading public opinion -- Sarkozy can no longer even consider taking over as prime minister. Instead, he will likely be forced to leave the government to protect his own integrity and counter Socialist Party charges that he is a "false victim" at once associated with and different from Villepin and Chirac. -- If Sarkozy does leave the government, this would create a scenario in which he, and most of the governing party with him, would effectively be cast in a role of in-house opposition to the government. Governance would likely be limited to day-to-day management, and major initiatives would have to await the outcome of the April 2007 elections and the new mandate they would provide. -- It goes almost without saying that a Sarkozy withdrawal from the government would weaken the center-right and improve the chances of the Socialist Party (PS) to win the 2007 elections. The PS is going on record by tabling a censure motion of the government, to be voted May 16, but it has an interest in Sarkozy's remaining in the government so as better to tar Sarkozy the Presidential Candidate with the Chirac/Villepin brush. Comment -------------- ¶7. (C) The farce factor is particularly high in this scandal given the detailed, personalized nature of the daily leaks to the media. However, the political stakes are high and the likely consequences increasingly serious. Sarkozy has a good record in walking a fine line between defiance of and cooperation with Villepin and Chirac; confonding the expectations of many, he emerged from last Fall's unrest in PARIS 00003178 003 OF 003 the suburbs and this Spring's demonstrations against the First Employment Contract stronger than before. While we have no doubt that he will also survive this crisis with his own integrity intact, the prospects for the center-right in the 2007 elections have undoubtedly been damaged. Sarkozy's challenge will be to break from Chirac and Villepin in a way that does not further damage them, in a situation where not only the opposition Socialist Party, but perhaps Chirac and Villepin, would prefer anyone to him. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm Stapleton