FRANCE: President Jacques Chirac went on television last night for the third time in as many months to defend his embattled prime minister, Dominque de Villepin.
Both men have broken records for unpopularity since the Fifth Republic was founded in 1958, yet the president repeatedly attributed the country's malaise to "media agitation".
He did not share the "apocalyptic vision" of Arlette Chabot, the television journalist who interviewed him, he said. "The government and the majority have obtained indisputable results," he claimed.
"There are worries. There are questions," Mr Chirac admitted. "But it is mainly linked to the upcoming elections and political and media agitation." It was his duty to restore lost bearings and explain his "roadmap", he said.
It is unprecedented for a president to give a television interview less than three weeks before the annual July 14th presidential appearance, but Mr Chirac hoped to clear the air prior to Bastille Day, so he could concentrate on his place in history in the next interview.
When he appointed Mr de Villepin following France's rejection of the European constitutional treaty, Mr Chirac said, he gave the government four missions: fight joblessness, improve security, create economic growth, and "prepare the future" through economic reforms.
Unemployment has fallen from 10 per cent to 9.3 per cent, but the opposition socialists point out it was 9 per cent when they left office four years ago.
"Growth is returning," Mr Chirac said. The socialists note that finance minister Thierry Breton predicted 2.5 per cent growth in 2005, but the end result was 1.2 per cent.
"Reforms are being made," Mr Chirac asserted, without providing specifics. "The contract has been fulfilled," he concluded. "I don't see why I would change the government."
Mr Chirac listed government actions during the past three months, including the passage of laws on employee shareholders and immigration, a French initiative to fight Aids in poor countries and the preparation of the first French budget in many years that would reduce the national debt.
"And you say it's a government that doesn't take action?" he challenged his interviewer.
"Why would you expect me to change a government which has fulfilled its contract, because of this media and political agitation?" he repeated.
During the past three months, Messrs Chirac and de Villepin were forced to abandon a "first job contract" which would have made it easier to fire young people. Both were accused of involvement in the Clearstream smear scandal against interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
And the prime minister postponed until September the parliamentary debate over his proposal to merge the gas company GDF with the water company Suez, when it became apparent that the majority would not back him in the National Assembly.
"The majority by its vote has always supported the government," Mr Chirac insisted. He had nonetheless "drawn the prime minister's attention" to a "feeling of dissatisfaction regarding relations between the government and its majority".
Asked what errors Mr de Villepin has made, the president said: "We have a prime minister who has devoted himself totally to action, with determination and dynamism. From time to time I tell him he ought to listen more to his majority."
When Mr Chirac made Mr Sarkozy number two in the de Villepin government, it was widely - and correctly - predicted they would clash. "It is perfectly natural for there to be personality clashes," Mr Chirac said. "It is a good thing. One cannot always be in a purring situation."
The president disappointed those who expected him to definitively renounce standing for a third term in office.
"You will know what I have decided during the first trimester of 2007," he said.