Chirac set to sacrifice PM

FRENCH President Jacques Chirac is seeking to recover momentum by reshuffling his cabinet after the humiliating rejection of the EU constitution.

His authority at rock-bottom after voters ignored his appeals for a "yes" vote, the 72-year-old was last night trying to prevent his last two years in office being ones of terminal decline.

In his first reaction to the public's massive rejection of the constitution, Mr Chirac promised to give "a new and strong impulse to government action" with an announcement about the cabinet and its priorities.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin who has served Mr Chirac loyally for the last three years was received at the Elysee palace yesterday morning and his resignation was expected imminently.

But speculation was rife over his replacement. The hottest tip was the 51-year-old Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin, a suave career diplomat.

Mr de Villepin, who has been close to Mr Chirac since becoming his cabinet director exactly 10 years ago, has never once stood for elected office but the appointment of an efficient technocrat could convey the message that the president has heeded public anger with politicians.

Also named as a possible prime minister was Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr Chirac's arch-rival on the right and 50-year-old head of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party.

Mr Sarkozy, who makes no secret of his ambition to be elected president in 2007, champions the cause of radical economic liberalisation and would only agree to be prime minister if he had a free hand to implement his programme, supporters said.

Mr Chirac's instincts veer more to the "social" centre-ground especially after an electoral upset that was spearheaded by public fears of the free market economy but he might be tempted to appoint Mr Sarkozy in order to neutralise him in the run-up to the 2007 elections.

As prime minister, Mr Sarkozy currently France's most popular politician would have to share the blame for the country's ills. At the helm of the UMP he can continue to snipe at the new government, especially if its leader is Mr de Villepin with whom Mr Sarkozy has poisonous relations.

Meanwhile the main opposition Socialist Party (PS) was plunged into post-referendum crisis.

Party leader Francois Hollande blamed the rejection of the EU constitution on the unpopularity of Mr Chirac's administration, but his own authority was hugely damaged by the result a clear majority of PS supporters ignoring his appeal to vote "yes."

Bitter recriminations over the "treason" of former prime minister Laurent Fabius and other backers of the "no" threatened to burst into open warfare.

Mr Fabius, who served as France's youngest prime minister in the 1980s, emerged as the biggest political winner from Sunday's vote and his chances for a 2007 presidential bid building on his alliance with the radical left have been enhanced.

But the 58-year-old is seen with contempt by the rest of the PS leadership, who accused him of xenophobia in the campaign for playing on the threat of competition from eastern Europe. And even among his new allies, the former centrist is widely suspected of cynical opportunism.