They are twelve as Apostles of the Republic

THE HELL OF MATIGNON

by Raphaëlle Bacqué

Albin Michel, 316 pages,

20 euros.

They are twelve as Apostles of the Republic. Instead of the paradise of the power, they lived the hell of Matignon. They are twelve, eleven men and a woman, having agreed not only to plunge back into a past often painful but, above all, to testify before the journalist Raphaëlle Bacqué quantities and easements of "trade" of Prime Minister. This humorous political supper, they are five left: Pierre Mauroy, Laurent Fabius, Michel Rocard, Edith Cresson and Lionel Jospin. And seven on the right, whose two meanwhile disappeared, Pierre Messmer and Raymond Barre, Edouard Balladur, Alain Juppe, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Dominique de Villepin and François Fillon. Missing the thirteenth character of this Assembly of the "former", not the less prominent, Jacques Chirac, only held twice the hôtel de Matignon but that "no evokes more long time where his ambition was built". The reader regret with the author, because the predecessor of Nicolas Sarkozy shared with Georges Pompidou privilege, rare under the Fifth Republic to be able to elect President after by Matignon. Pass of the Rue de Varenne in the Elysee Palace, most have both dreamed... None has succeeded. Replaced by Maurice Couve de Murville in July 1968, Georges Pompidou had to wait a year. Jacques Chirac seven. To the end, Edouard Balladur and Lionel Jospin have believe in their chances surgery of cruel defeats. And, notes Raphaëlle Bacqué, except for Laurent Fabius, Minister of economy and Finance of the Government of Jospin and Alain Juppe, short-lived Minister of the environment of the Fillon Government, "none of them ever did the feet in a Government."

A disgrace extended

Often prolonged disgrace to former heads of Government has fueled the Chronicle of a so-called "curse" of Matignon. A view taken a beating, this book by two of the main stakeholders, Edouard Balladur and Lionel Jospin. "I do discourage any Prime Minister to apply for the presidential election if he considers it has something to offer to the French and if he has an ambition to offer", says one. "I don't think policy laws", the other supports. But need to distinguish first cohabitation of other Ministers. Since that show with acuity that direct evidence, it is the difficulty permanent, structural, occupant of Matignon to find its place without putting rivalry with the other head of the Executive. Raphaëlle Bacqué book abounds about it flares situations. Extreme case, that of Michel Rocard: "Francois Mitterrand had told Ambroise Roux (figure of employers at the time, Editor's note), who came to tell me after my resignation:"I will appoint him as the French seem to want, but they do not realize".". "You'll see, after eighteen months, it will be seen through..." "The same tells this epic scene of Wednesday, May 15, 1991, just before the Council of Ministers, François Miterrand requested his resignation from the bench. "I therefore question him:"Then, we prevent the Council of Ministers". With this stunning and beautiful response: "But no, it looks not."

A "continual harassment".

Posteriori, Alain Juppe regretted that Jacques Chirac had not it "delivers more. Dominique de Villepin prides itself on not being in the position of a "collaborator". But all join to try "impossible" position that de Gaulle saw as a "second (...)". "faced with contingencies. A "continual harassment", to Raymond Barre. "The hardest job of the Republic", according to Dominique de Villepin that a good Prime Minister may take "two years", not more. Matignon, it is a control tower and a crisis management permanently. Michel Rocard: "the Prime Minister is seized of issues when they rotten." With humour, Jean-Pierre Raffarin noted: "Fortunately, from time to time, you have a compliment." But it is especially when one is former Prime Minister that it receives the most. "This trip in the hell of Matignon, returning with images, not with theories. As rightly written Raphaëlle Bacqué, those who lived it "who speak the better."