FRANCE: The French Finance Minister, Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, a candidate to lead the governing UMP party, yesterday welcomed President Jacques Chirac's support for his bid as a move to avert divisions in the conservative camp.
Mr Sarkozy, who wants to succeed Mr Chirac as president, will be forced to relinquish his cabinet post if he is elected leader of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in November.
The 49-year-old is the overwhelming favourite to win after the pro-Chirac camp - mistrustful of the Finance Minister's overt presidential ambitions - failed to put up a credible heavyweight rival candidate.
"I would like, as he said himself, to say that our meeting took place in an extremely warm atmosphere," Mr Sarkozy said.
Wednesday's interview at the Elysée Palace aimed to put a halt - at least for now - in the phoney war between the two men who have been sparring via the media for months.
Sarkozy supporters have been openly questioning why the most popular government minister should be forced to quit if elected head of the UMP, pointing out that there is no such rule in the party statutes.
Mr Chirac, who has not yet ruled out seeking a third presidential term in 2007 elections, spent months trying to dissuade Mr Sarkozy from running.
Having failed in that, he issued a blunt warning on July 14th to the effect that any minister elected UMP leader would either have to resign or be summarily sacked.