Global Policy Forum

Thirty French deputies, most from the governing Socialist Party, have signed a petition to impeach President Jacques Chirac over graft charges dating back to his time as Paris mayor, the daily Le Monde reported Monday.

Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's party promptly disowned the effort, saying Socialist deputy Arnaud Montebourg was acting on his own and his unprecedented initiative was bound to be defeated in parliament and misunderstood by voters.

But Montebourg, comparing the graft charges to the Watergate scandal in the United States, vowed to push ahead with his bid to have Chirac tried on charges of taking bribes and providing bogus jobs to allies while Paris mayor from 1977 to 1995. ``This is only the beginning,'' the first-term backbencher told Le Monde, predicting a second wave of signatures would follow now that his challenge has been made public. ``How can we explain to our compatriots that crimes committed by presidents Joseph Estrada, Alberto Fujimori and Richard Nixon can be tried but no judge can be found in France to try President Jacques Chirac?'' he asked in the petition.

Chirac has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and magistrates investigating the charges have balked at launching an official probe, arguing that he enjoys immunity from prosecution as long as he is head of state.

NOT THE RIGHT SOLUTION

``We do not think that trying the president is the right solution today,'' Socialist Party spokesman Vincent Peillon said. The party agreed that Chirac's immunity presented a problem because it blocked legal proceedings in the cases, in which 77 people are under judicial investigation.

But Peillon said the resolution could not get through the conservative-controlled Senate. Even if it did, voters would see it as a tactical move by the Socialists in the run-up to the crucial presidential election next year in which Jospin is expected to challenge Chirac.

Montebourg's chances of getting his resolution through parliament do in fact look slim. He needs the signatures of 58 deputies to introduce an impeachment bill in the National Assembly or 32 senators to table it in the upper house of parliament. The bill would then have to be passed in identical terms by the leftist-controlled lower house and the conservative majority in the Senate. The petition signers are backbenchers from the Socialist, Greens and smaller left-wing parties except for Noel Mamere, the Greens Party's probable candidate in next year's presidential election, and former women's rights minister Yvette Roudy.

Of the 19 Socialist signatories, some told Le Monde that party leaders had privately urged them not to sign.

Late last month a magistrate investigating charges that Chirac's RPR party took bribes from building contractors in return for contracts submitted a report saying he had gathered ''plausible evidence'' implicating Chirac. Jospin's Socialist Party is alleged to have benefited to a lesser extent from the carve-up of covert funds.

In another case, judges have been investigating charges of widespread fraud in the form of bogus jobs for RPR members at Paris City Hall during Chirac's time there. Since the judges have declared themselves incompetent even to call Chirac as a witness, the only way for the cases to be tried is to have parliament vote for impeachment proceedings.