In his career working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, De Villepin rose through the ranks of the French right as one of Chirac's protégés. He came into the international spotlight as Minister of Foreign Affairs with his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, one year after his appointment to the office, which culminated with a speech to the United Nations.[1] Before his tenure as prime minister, he also served as Minister of the Interior (2004–2005).
After being replaced by François Fillon as prime minister, De Villepin was indicted in connection with the Clearstream affair;[2][3] he was subsequently cleared of charges of complicity in allowing false accusations to proceed against presidential rival Nicolas Sarkozy regarding bribes paid on a sale of warships to Taiwan.[4] De Villepin enjoyed a modest return to public favour for his public critique of President Sarkozy's style of "imperial rule".[5]
De Villepin has written poetry, a book about poetry, and several historical and political essays, along with a study of Napoleon. He is an honorary member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
Early life and education
Villepin was born in Rabat, Morocco, and spent some time in Venezuela, where his family lived for four years. He then lived in the U.S., and has said that he "grew up in the United States". During his teenage years, "the 'Beat generation' movement left its mark on me, so did the hippie movement".[6] He was inspired by Jack Kerouac and other American poets. He graduated from the Lycée Français de New York in 1971.[7] He has three children: Marie (b. 1986), Arthur, and Victoire (b. 1989).
Contrary to what his surname suggests, Villepin is not from an aristocratic background. His ancestors added the particle "de" to the family name.[8] His great-grandfather was a colonel in the French army, his grandfather was a board member for several companies, and his father Xavier de Villepin was a diplomat and a member of the Senate. Villepin speaks French, English and Spanish.
When his mother died, Villepin gave a eulogy "full of the grandest and most sonorous cadences of the French language", wrote The Independent (UK) in 2010. He "spoke of his mother's passionate belief in the greatness and the destiny of France, and, implicitly, the greatness and destiny of her son". One mourner stated that he seemed to speak "of France and of himself as being the same thing".[9]
Career
Diplomat
Villepin studied at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and went on to the École nationale d'administration (ENA), France's highly selective post-graduate school which trains its top civil servants. Villepin also holds degrees in Civil law and French literature from the universities of Panthéon-Assas and Paris X Nanterre. At the end of his studies, he completed his military service as a naval officer on board the Aircraft Carrier Clemenceau. Villepin then entered a career in diplomacy. His assignments were:
The embassy in New Delhi (1989–1992), as deuxième conseiller until 1990 and then premier conseiller
Foreign Ministry's top adviser on Africa (1992–1993)
Early political positions
Villepin was introduced to Jacques Chirac in the early 1980s and became one of his advisers on foreign policy. In 1993 he became chief of staff (directeur de cabinet) of Alain Juppé, the Foreign Minister in Édouard Balladur's cabinet, who was Chirac's political heir apparent.
Villepin then became director of Chirac's successful 1995 presidential campaign and was rewarded with the key job of Secretary-General of the Élysée Palace during Chirac's first term as President of the Republic (1995–2002). He advised the president to hold an early general election in 1997, while the French National Assembly was overwhelmingly dominated by the president's party. This was a risky gamble, and Chirac's party went on to lose the elections. Villepin offered Chirac his resignation afterwards, but it was turned down. Villepin's flawed advice on the election increased the perception among many politicians on the right that Villepin had no experience or understanding of grassroots politics, and owed his enviable position only to being Chirac's protégé.
Villepin has had an uneasy relationship with the members of his own political side. He has in the past made a number of demeaning remarks about members of parliament from his own party. In addition, the mutual distaste between Villepin and Nicolas Sarkozy, head of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) majority party, is well known.
Foreign minister
Dominique de Villepin with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, 2003Villepin next to Hassan Rouhani during talks on the Iranian nuclear program
He was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Chirac in the cabinet of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin at the beginning of Chirac's second term in 2002.
Villepin's most famous assignment as Chirac's foreign minister was opposing the U.S. plan to invadeIraq, giving France a leading role in the grouping of countries such as Germany, Belgium, Russia and China that opposed the invasion. The speech[10] he gave to the UN to block a second resolution allowing the use of force against Saddam Hussein's regime received loud applause.
During mid-2003 Villepin organized the Opération 14 juillet that attempted to rescue his former student, Ingrid Betancourt, who was being held by FARC rebels in Colombia. The operation failed, and because he had neither informed Colombia, Brazil, nor President Chirac of the mission, it resulted in a political scandal.
His actions against radical Islam included mandatory courses for Muslim clerics, notably in the French language (as indications were that one-third of them may not have been fluent in the national language), in moderate Muslim theology and in French secularism: laïcité, Republican principles and the law. While Sarkozy created the French Council of the Muslim Faith, an official body which is now dominated by Orthodoxes, Villepin would have preferred a "Muslim foundation", in which mosque-based representatives would be balanced by secular Muslims.
He also cracked down on radical Muslim clerics, causing an uproar when he tried to expel Abdelkader Bouziane, an imam alleged to have said to the press that, according to Ancient Islamic texts, adulterous people could be whipped or stoned. When the decision to expel him was overturned by the courts, because of the journalistic reporting of LyonMag was deemed biased, Villepin pushed a change of the law through Parliament, and Bouziane was sent home.
President Chirac was at one point thought to have turned his eye on Villepin as a possible successor, assuming that he himself would not enter the 2007 presidential contest. However, Nicolas Sarkozy was chosen to represent the centre-right UMP party.
In an address to the nation, Chirac had declared that the new cabinet's top priority would be to curb unemployment, which was consistently hovering above 10%, calling for a "national mobilization" to that effect.
Villepin's cabinet was marked by its small membership (for France), and its hierarchical unity: all members had the rank of Minister, and there were no Secretaries of State, the lowest cabinet member rank. The aim of this decision was for the cabinet to form a close-knit and more efficient team to combat unemployment.
The economy was growing sluggishly and a significant drop in unemployment was yet to be seen. Villepin's aim was therefore to restore the French people's trust in their government, an achievement for which he publicly set himself a deadline of a hundred days from the appointment of cabinet.
Another issue was the European Constitution, rejected by France and the Netherlands in referendums.
After Pope Benedict XVI was widely chastized for appearing to criticize Islam in a speech on 12 September 2006, French author Robert Redeker came to the pontiff's defense, in response to which he received death threats that forced him and his family to go into hiding. Villepin commented that "everyone has the right to express their opinions freely – at the same time that they respect others, of course". The lesson of this episode, according to Villepin, was "how vigilant we must be to ensure that people fully respect one another in our society".[11]
Some had speculated that Villepin, with his diplomatic experience and the prestige associated with the job of prime minister, would negotiate a new treaty with the European Union, while Sarkozy would run the country at home. However, Villepin obtained favorable reviews from the press and temporarily increased popularity in polls. In particular, he was increasingly cited as a possible presidential candidate for 2007, although Nicolas Sarkozy had publicly stated that he himself was giving considerable attention to that election. Villepin and Sarkozy initially avoided any open division.
Villepin declared that lowering unemployment was the number one objective of his government (which had also been stated by other prime ministers before him, albeit to no avail). He, as well as the UMP party, believed that France's workforce rules were too rigid and discouraged employment, and that some liberalizing reforms were necessary in order to "correct" the French social model.
On 2 August 2005 he issued ordinances establishing a new kind of work contract (called CNE) for small enterprises, with fewer guarantees than ordinary contracts. While Villepin's measures would surely have been approved by his wide UMP majority in Parliament. Villepin said the government needed to act fast, especially when Parliament was going on its summer recess.
On 16 January 2006 he announced a similar kind of work contract (called Contrat première embauche, or CPE) for young people (under 26). The parliament approved on 8 February. Subsequently, students started to protest. This wave of protest eventually forced the government to give in. Although the law on the CPE is formally still valid, the government promised to hinder its application and initiated a new legal initiative which will abolish the key points of the CPE. During the protests, Villepin was widely perceived as stubborn and arrogant. As a consequence, his popularity rates went down rapidly and he was no longer regarded as a serious contender for the 2007 presidential election.
Another major issue in Villepin's government was the state of the national budget. France runs high deficits, which run afoul of the rules set in the EU Maastricht Treaty. Villepin's margin of maneuver in that respect was extremely slim.
On Thursday, 16 March 2006, tens of thousands of French university and school students marched to demand the government scrap a contentious youth jobs clause, known as First Employment Contract (CPE). The law, intended as a response to the 2005 riots, was intended to stimulate job growth and reduce the country's high youth unemployment rate by allowing employers to fire employees aged under 26 within the first two years of their employment for any or no reason. Supporters of the law argued that such probationary arrangements are not unusual in Western countries and that the current system in France discourages employers from hiring people whom they may be unable to fire if they prove unsuitable for the job. Critics argued that the CPE discriminated unnecessarily against the young and decreases job security. The union movement issued an ultimatum to Villepin to scrap the law by 20 March or face a general strike. This ultimatum expired without concession. A general strike was called for 28 March.
On 28 March, between one and three million people demonstrated across France. The protests were accompanied by some violence and 800 people were arrested, 500 of them in Paris. Prime Minister Villepin refused to withdraw the CPE but called for negotiations on adapting it. The demonstrators for the most part called for the complete withdrawal of the CPE.
The CPE was withdrawn by Jacques Chirac on 10 April.[13]
2006 National Assembly debate
Dominique de Villepin, 2006
On 20 June 2006, during the questions to government in the National Assembly, Dominique de Villepin accused the head of the Socialist Party François Hollande of cowardice.[14] Hollande had questioned the Prime Minister about the recent "insider trading" scandal involving the aerospace company EADS and executive Noël Forgeard. This triggered an incident in the Assembly, with Socialist deputies converging on the government benches until they were stopped by the Assembly ushers. Hollande demanded apologies and the resignation of the Prime Minister;[15] the next day, Dominique de Villepin apologized. This event resulted in criticism even from Villepin's own UMP party, with UMP parliamentarians including Assembly vice-president Yves Bur suggesting that president Chirac should appoint another prime minister.[16]
Clearstream affair
In 2004, French judges were given a list by an anonymous source containing the names of politicians and others who, it was alleged, had deposited kickbacks from a 1991 arms sale to Taiwan into secret accounts at Clearstream, a private bank in Luxembourg. The most prominent name on the list was that of Nicolas Sarkozy, Villepin's rival for power in the UMP. The list was later shown to be fraudulent, a discovery Villepin kept from the public for 15 months at a time when the two men were vying for party supremacy.[17] Meanwhile, the source of the list was later revealed to be a longtime associate of Villepin's, one Jean-Louis Gergorin, an executive at EADS. Critics claimed that Villepin, perhaps with the support of then-president Jacques Chirac, had tried to defame his rival. Sarkozy, in turn, filed a suit against whoever was behind the creation of the Clearstream list. Villepin was eventually acquitted in 2010[18] (see #Clearstream trial below).
Possible presidential bid
There was speculation that Villepin might be a candidate in the 2007 Presidential election; Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy was selected unopposed as the UMP's presidential candidate on 14 January 2007.[19] On 12 March 2007 Villepin formally endorsed Sarkozy for President.[20]
Resignation
Dominique de Villepin after his resignation
On 15 May 2007, the last full day of President Jacques Chirac's term, Villepin tendered his resignation from the office of prime minister and it was accepted by the President.[21] He was replaced two days later by François Fillon.
Post-prime ministerial career
Context of De Villepin's political career
De Villepin has never held elected office; the French Constitution allows the president to appoint unelected ministers. This is a political liability for him, because he is periodically accused of being out of touch with the realities of ordinary citizens.[citation needed] He is also reported to despise elected officials, calling members of Parliament connards (assholes).[citation needed] Villepin is not the first "unelected" prime minister, even in the relatively short history of the Fifth Republic: notable predecessors include Georges Pompidou, who was a banker before being called to office, and Raymond Barre, who had a previous career as a professor and appointed official, and started an elected career only after being Prime minister.
Clearstream trial
On the first day of the civil trial for his part in the Clearstream affair, Villepin accused President Sarkozy of pursuing him for political reasons. Sarkozy has the status of a civil plaintiff in the case.[22]
On Thursday, 28 January 2010, the judgement was finally handed down and Villepin was acquitted of every accusation against him in the affair.
The following morning the prosecution announced that it would file an appeal against this verdict, thus further dragging out the affair another year. Villepin was finally cleared by an appeals court in September 2011.[23]
Soon after his exit from daily political life, on 9 January 2008 de Villepin returned to legal practice.[24] Since then, he has travelled on business to Iran, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia.[24] Over its first two years, the bureau had revenues of 4.65 million euros and earned profit of 2.6 million.[24]Alstom, TotalEnergies and Veolia and the Bugshan family conglomerate have all been clients.[24][25] and he has a close relationship with Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and her mother Moza bint Nasser.[24] He advocated forcefully the Palestinian cause during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict,[26] at the request of the Qataris, and protested the French legal ban on Islamic facial veils for women in 2014.[27] De Villepin counsels the Qatar Investment Authority.[28] He is president of the advisory board of Universal Credit Rating Group, a Sino-Russo-American bond credit rating agency, and international advisor to China Minsheng Bank.[24]
From November 2008 until June 2009, de Villepin chaired a six-member panel of EU experts advising the Bulgarian government. Set up by Bulgaria's prime minister Sergei Stanishev, the advisory board was mandated to recommend ways to help the country adjust to EU membership.[29]
République Solidaire and presidential run
In 2010, Villepin quit the UMP and set up a new party, République Solidaire, with the aim of running for president in the 2012 elections.[30] He advocated the rewithdrawal of France from the NATO integrated military command.[31] However, he failed to secure the 500 necessary "parrainages" endorsements from elected officials in the preliminaries to the presidential race, and his candidacy did not proceed.[32]
In 2016, the French investigating judge Sabine Kheris requested that a case be referred to the Court of Justice of the Republic. Three former ministers, Dominique de Villepin, Michel Barnier and Michèle Alliot-Marie, were suspected of having allowed the exfiltration of the mercenaries responsible for the attack on the Bouaké camp in 2004, killing nine French soldiers. The operation was allegedly intended to justify a response operation against the Laurent Gbagbo government in the context of the 2004 crisis in Ivory Coast.[33]
In March 2020, Dominique de Villepin opened a commercial gallery in Hong Kong together with his son, Arthur de Villepin. The gallery is located on Hollywood Road in Central, and opened with an inaugural exhibition of work by the Chinese painter Zao Wou-ki.[35]
2024 legislative election
In the wake of the dissolution of the National Assembly by Emmanuel Macron, de Villepin, architect of the 1997 dissolution, lamented his decision to seek new elections, and said that his second quinquennat merely "float[ed in the] absence of clear ideas," but nonetheless called for a moderate coalition. Distancing himself from Éric Ciotti and his decision to cooperate with the far-right, while de Villepin did not explicitly specify he would vote for the New Popular Front over the National Rally, he did say that "I consider that priority must be given to the struggle against the National Rally[, ] the real threat to our country."[36]
Personal life
Villepin enjoys traveling through the U.S., and has spoken of Route 66 as giving a feeling of the "wide open spaces of America" that signify "dreams and opportunities". He has said that the U.S. is a source of inspiration for "every lover of liberty and democracy".[6]
L'option de la guerre peut apparaître a priori la plus rapide. Mais n'oublions pas qu'après avoir gagné la guerre, il faut construire la paix. "The option of war might seem at first to be the swiftest. But let us not forget that having won the war, one has to build peace." (address on Iraq at the United Nations Security Council on 14 February 2003, shortly before the US-led invasion of Iraq[38])
With the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, a dark era is drawing to a close. And we welcome it... Together we must now build peace in Iraq and for France this has to mean the United Nations having a central role. Together we must build peace throughout the region and this can be done only through the determined search for a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[39]
Let us have the courage to declare a first truth: International law does not give a right to security which engages, in return, a right to occupy and even less so, a right to massacre. There is a right to peace, and that right is the same for all peoples. The security which Israel seeks today, is done so against peace and against the Palestinian people.[40]
2001: Les Cent-Jours ou l'esprit de sacrifice (Perrin, 2001 – Le Grand livre du mois, 2001 – Perrin, 2002 – Éditions France loisirs, 2003); a book about the "One Hundred Days" between the return of Napoleon from Elba and the defeat at the Battle of Waterloo; awarded the Grand Prix d'Histoire of the Fondation Napoléon (2001) and the Prix des Ambassadeurs (2001).
2002: Le cri de la gargouille (Éditions Albin Michel, 2002. Librairie générale française, 2003), a "meditation" upon French politics, an analysis of differing aspects of the French political character.
2003: Éloge des voleurs de feu (NRF-Gallimard, 2003), in English On Poetry, which is some reflections on the subject; Villepin is said to have worked on the final draft during the UN session where the French successfully blocked authorization of the 2003 War in Iraq.
2003: Preface to Aventuriers du monde 1866–1914 : Les grands explorateurs français au temps des premiers photographes (L'Iconoclaste, 2003), collective work.
2004: Preface to l'Entente cordiale de Fachoda à la Grande Guerre : Dans les archives du Quai d'Orsay, Maurice Vaïsse (Éditions Complexe, 2004).
2004: Preface, with Jack Straw, to l'Entente cordiale dans le siècle (Odile Jacob, 2004).
2004: Preface to 1905, la séparation des Églises et de l'État : les textes fondateurs (Perrin, 2004).
2004: Preface to Mehdi Qotbi : le voyage de l'écriture (Paris : Somogy, 2004 – Paris : Somogy, 2005), "published on the occasion of an exhibition organized by the Institut Français du Nord and Attijariwafa Bank, presented at the Galerie Delacroix of the Institut français du Nord at Tangiers from 25 June to 5 September 2004 and at the Espace d'Art Actua of the Attijariwafa Bank, Casablanca, Oct–Dec 2004" – Villepin has a personal connection with the Maghreb and the Third World – "born in Rabat, raised in Latin America", as the bios put it;
2004: Le requin et la mouette (Plon : A. Michel, 2004), essay.
2005: Histoire de la diplomatie française with Jean-Claude Allain, Françoise Autrand, Lucien Bély (Perrin, 2005).
2005: Urgences de la poésie ([Casablanca] : Eds. de la Maison de la Poésie du Maroc, July 2005) tr. into Arabic by Mohamed Bennis, illustr. by Mehdi Qotbi; includes three poems by Villepin himself, "Elegies barbares", "Le droit d'aînesse", and "Sécession".
1986: Villepin, Patrick de, Encore et toujours : François Xavier Galouzeau de Villepin, 1814–1885, un Lorrain émigré à Paris au XIXe siècle (Paris (21 rue Surcouf, 75007) : P. de Villepin, 1986)
1987: Villepin, Patrick de, "Maintenir" : histoire de la famille Galouzeau de Villepin (1397–1987) ([Paris] (21 rue Surcouf, 75007) : P. de Villepin, 1987)
2004: Le Maire, Bruno, Le ministre : récit (Paris : B. Grasset, 2004) ISBN2-246-67611-8.
2005: Derai, Yves et Mantoux, Aymeric, L'homme qui s'aimait trop (Paris : l'Archipel, impr. 2005) ISBN2-84187-753-1.
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