France’s President: Excessively immune syndrome

Date: 07/02/04

Nobody should be above the law - not even Jacques Chirac

ANOTHER week, another French politician convicted of corruption. Only this time the politician, Alain Juppé, was not just a former prime minister, serving mayor of Bordeaux and president of the ruling UMP political party. More tellingly, he was the protege, closest associate and preferred successor of the French president, Jacques Chirac. And the party-financing chicanery for which he was convicted took place when he was working for Mr Chirac, then mayor of Paris, in the mid-1990s. Indeed, the judges hinted strongly that Mr Chirac was really responsible.

Mr Juppé is appealing against his conviction. But the case raises an obvious question: why is the president not in the dock as well? The answer is that, under the constitution, he enjoys sweeping immunity from prosecution for any offence short of high treason, even one committed before he assumed office. In 1999 Mr Chirac obtained a ruling from France's constitutional council that this immunity allowed him to refuse to answer questions put by an investigating magistrate. Mr Chirac insists that the immunity is meant not to protect him, but to uphold the dignity of the presidency - although he has conceded that the constitution should have a mechanism for presidential impeachment.

It is true that, in many countries, presidents, prime ministers and other office holders enjoy various immunities. They cannot be sued for what they say in parliament, for example; nor, in general, can they be prosecuted for acts undertaken as part of their official duties. The reason for such immunities is partly historical - monarchs could not be tried in their own courts. But it is also practical: nobody wants heads of government to be distracted by a wave of lawsuits that might be malicious in intent or politically motivated.

Yet Mr Chirac's immunity goes far beyond what is needed to avoid distractions. It extends to criminal as well as civil acts, and it covers deeds, such as those for which Mr Juppé was convicted, that have nothing to do with official duties. In effect, it puts Mr Chirac above the law - so long as he remains president. That has a perverse effect on French politics, by giving Mr Chirac a big incentive to remain president. If he seeks to return to the Elysee palace in 2007, when he will be 74, it may just be to avoid a trip to the palace of justice.

Mr Chirac's immunity is also far broader than that of most of his counterparts. The American president can, as Bill Clinton famously discovered in the Paula Jones case in 1997, be called to answer even civil lawsuits. Israel's Ariel Sharon may soon face criminal charges. Most European heads of government are subject to normal prosecution for criminal (and sometimes also civil) offences. Indeed, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi is due to return to court soon - after his attempt to give himself just the sort of immunity that Mr Chirac enjoys was thrown out by Italy's constitutional court last month.

The court's reasoning should apply to Mr Chirac as much as to Mr Berlusconi. In particular, the Italian justices rejected the immunity bill because it contravened the well-understood principle that everybody should be equal under the law. Far from lending dignity to the French presidency, Mr Chirac's immunity, even from criminal investigation, brings the office, the state and the entire judicial system into disrepute. It is time to amend the French constitution to bring presidential immunity into line with other countries - and to call Mr Chirac, as much as Mr Juppé, to account.

Editorial says: Nobody should be above the law - not even Jacques Chirac.

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