GENEVA — Polls show that French President Jacques Chirac has lost the confidence of more than 60 percent of his countrymen, a problem that a closely watched television interview last week did little to dispel.
“Embattled,” “unconvincing,” “has nothing to offer,” were some of the comments by the press after the interview.
“Stormy weather ahead for Jacques Chirac,” headlined the conservative Paris daily Le Figaro.
Mr. Chirac’s call for what commentators described as “a war against pessimism” has prompted his prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, to ask the Cabinet to sacrifice most of the traditional summer vacations and work harder.
“Our watchword is action, not vacations,” Mr. de Villepin said.
Mr. Chirac’s latest plan is to “wake up industrial France” with 67 competitive tasks aimed at stimulating growth, creating jobs for the 3 million unemployed and reconquering export markets.
At the outset of another torrid summer, Mr. de Villepin’s picture of the situation in France was hardly cheerful. He spoke of disappointment over the failure by Paris to win the bid to host the 2012 Olympics and warned the ministers of a “difficult period, weaknesses to overcome.”
This is a time of the year when national news is dominated by weather forecasts, forest fires, the annual Tour de France bicycle race and traffic jams on the roads leading to mountain spas and seaside resorts in a country where summer vacations are sacrosanct.
In such an atmosphere, Mr. Chirac’s problems appear daunting. Among them is the concern that he no longer can claim France’s role as the “pillar of Europe’s construction” after the voters rejected, in the May 29 referendum, the proposed European Union constitution. Critics say the rejection was prompted partly by the unpopular president’s enthusiastic support for the charter.
Further complicating Mr. Chirac’s efforts to restore his image is his simmering feud with Nicolas Sarkozy, the ambitious and popular interior minister who does not hide his presidential ambitions for 2007. Mr. Chirac’s supporters say Mr. Sarkozy’s criticism of the president undermines the conservative government’s cohesion.
Although Mr. Chirac has been in power 10 years, he is still cagey about his plans for a third five-year term despite negative opinion polls.
“The decision is up to the French people,” he told his interviewers after a spectacular military parade along the Champs-Elysees.
His call for “a war on pessimism” elicited a range of reactions, from tepid approval from the right wing to criticism from left-wing opponents. Francois Hollande, first secretary of the Socialist Party, said:
“[Chirac] has become a commentator of political and international life … without offering any solutions.”
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