French justice and politics

Former French President Jacques Chirac testified in front of a magistrate about his involvement in a party finance scandal on Thursday, July 19th. The daily considers the use and abuse of presidential immunity. "It is impossible to contemplate M. Chirac's fall from grace without also considering Nicolas Sarkozy's rise. There is a sense of needle between these two erstwhile political allies that might raise questions about how blind French justice will be in this case. ... France specialises in political corruption cases of a very particular variety. They tend to be labyrinthine in their complexity, protracted, and less to do with personal enrichment than with the funding of political parties and political ambitions. They are all about the devious ways French politicians try to finance party activity. At the time, blind eyes are turned; when the contests are over, the magnifying glasses are trained on the coffers of the losers."

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