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Chirac Under the Gun
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10353 |
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Current Issues
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12 / 1986 |
1,586 Words |
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Sanjiv Prakash
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The presidential ambitions of French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac are resting on his ability to fight the terrorists who for the past three months have paralyzed France with multiple waves of bombings and sabotage. Paris-based experts of French politics say that the bombings could break him, or depending upon his handling of the situation, could make him the next French president when the present incumbent's term expires in 1988.
At the end of August, Parisians returned from the beaches after a particularly hot summer. The terrorists were waiting. The first victims on September 4 were lucky. A bomb was placed under a seat in a subway train during rush hour at the Gare de Lyons. Passengers actually saw it detonate, but the 19 sticks of plastic explosive failed to explode. Four days later, a bomb went off in a post office at the city hall, killing a woman and spraying blood and glass across the counters. Four days after that, people queuing for lunch at a self-service restaurant five miles to the west were mown down. Increased security and the deployment of police and paramilitary forces did not prevent the terrorists from making the Champs Elysees the next target. A man ordered an orange juice in the crowded bar of the Renault showrooms. He walked out without drinking it, leaving a bouquet of flowers and a parcel behind. The parcel was taken to a basement where it exploded, killing a policeman.
Although the bombings are ostensibly aimed at freeing convicted Lebanese terrorist Georges Abdallah from jail, they may also have an indirect effect on the political future of Prime Minister Jacques Chirac.
Hitting Home
Paris is Chirac's kingdom. He has been the mayor of Paris since 1976. It is his showcase for the 14-hour days, the restless energy, and the "can do" confidence that he trusts will take him to the presidency. In return, Paris has given him a reputation and the public exposure he needs to move to the presidential palace by 1988. Appointed prime minister after a narrow conservative victory in March, he has stayed on as the mayor of Paris.
The Solidarity Committee for Arab Prisoners, the name used by those blamed for the bombings, greeted his inauguration with a bomb on the Champs Elysees. September's wave of explosions included one within 100 yards of his office in the city hall. Another occurred in the Paris police headquarters; a third coincided with his announcement of anti-terrorist measures, and one more happened as he chaired an inner-cabinet security meeting.
Chirac faces dual pressures. As premier, he is a conservative committed to a law and order platform, and intends to oust the socialist president, Francois Mitterrand, when elections are held within two years. He created a security minister in his new cabinet, custom made to deal with terrorism. Charles Pasqua, his hard-line Corsican interior minister, lost no time in March in saying that he would "terrorize the terrorists."
Such actions raised expectations of efficient reprisal that have not been realized, and hence Chirac could be perceived as a leader whose cabinet failed to deliver what it promised.
Chirac's reputation is also at stake as the mayor of the
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