Race and politics in France :

[Al-khiyal]

December 6, 2007 -- She was dressed in Dior for the dinner in honour of Nicolas Sarkozy at the White House, and seated at the king's table for the one in Morocco. She was in China with the French president last week, and at his side again this week for a state visit to Algeria. No other minister seems to follow the globe-trotting Mr Sarkozy as much as Rachida Dati, his justice minister, and none is so scrutinised by the French media.

The first Muslim to hold such a top government job, and a woman to boot, Ms Dati has become emblematic of an effort to open up the French elite. This makes her controversial judicial reform a test of the new France in more ways than one.

Ms Dati's backstory, as recounted in her recent book, Je vous fais juges (You be the Judge), reads more like that of Barack Obama than the typical French minister. One of 12 children raised in a council flat by an illiterate Algerian mother and a Moroccan stonemason, she rose and qualified as a magistrate through a mix of tenacity, pushiness and hard work, including night shifts as a nursing auxiliary.

She was adopted by Mr Sarkozy when he was interior minister (she had written to him cold, and demanded a meeting) and has worked in his team ever since. Since she was appointed rather than elected, Mr Sarkozy's centre-right party is seeking to boost her standing by putting her top of the list for the next municipal elections in the bourgeois 7th arrondissement of Paris. Ms Dati's ascent prompts as much admiration as it does resentment. Her appointment did not prevent another eruption of street violence in the heavily Muslim banlieues last month. In the same week that rioters torched cars, the country's justices also took to the streets during a strike to protest against her plans to amalgamate courts. Robert Badinter, a Socialist senator and former justice minister, said he had never seen “such anxiety and bitterness” from magistrates.

Unpopular as it may be, the reform makes sense. The geography of the French court system has not changed in nearly half a century, despite huge population shifts. In largely rural areas, there is a tribunal de grande instance (county court) for fewer than 150,000 people; in big cities, one such court serves over 550,000. In Lorraine in eastern France, ten magistrates' courts employ a full-time judge without the workload to justify it, and two have none at all. By contrast, some city courts have vast backlogs. Ms Dati plans to close 178 of the 473 magistrates' courts, and 23 county courts, and redistribute staff.

Mr Sarkozy has made clear his desire to shake up the court system to speed up decisions, improve access and end the isolation of some investigating judges. An inquiry into one of France's most egregious recent miscarriages of justice — the imprisonment of 13 people wrongfully accused of running a paedophile ring in Outreau — said one cause was the fact that the investigating judge was working entirely alone.

Naturally, magistrates affected by closures are enraged. Members of parliament, even those from Mr Sarkozy's party, have been fiercely critical of Ms Dati's plans too, accusing her of striking courts off the map without consultation. There also seems to be genuine concern about Ms Dati's management style. In her short time in office, more than half a dozen members of her staff have quit.

The trouble for critics is that questions about Ms Dati's competence collide with France's awkward new political correctness. Charges of racism are already in the air. Dominique Sopo, head of SOS Racisme, an anti-discrimination group, says hostility to her reform is because she is “young, a woman, and of North African origin. Unfortunately, this profile creates resentment among a French elite made up of white men over 55.”

Still, other female members of the government too are said to have been put out by Ms Dati's prominence, not least the Senegalese-born Rama Yade, junior foreign minister for human rights, who was excluded from Mr Sarkozy's trip to China.

Mr Sarkozy has stood solidly by Ms Dati throughout. Having publicly admired the ethnic diversity of the Bush administration in America, Mr Sarkozy is commendably keen to reproduce it in France. Indeed, given her iconic value, he cannot afford to let her fail.

Trouble in the court of Sarkozy

[Al-khiyal]

Jeudi 6 Décembre 2007 -- Rachida Dati, ministre de la Justice, a démenti, jeudi 6 décembre, des informations selon lesquelles elle souhaiterait quitter la Chancellerie pour le ministère de l'Intérieur.

Invitée sur France Inter, Rachida Dati a déclaré : "je suis à la Chancellerie et je suis très heureuse d'y être". "C'est une drôle d'habitude que de voir toujours les personnes là où elles ne sont pas, où il n'est même pas prévu qu'elles soient", a-t-elle ajouté. L'éventualité d'un départ Place Beauvau pour y remplacer Michèle Alliot-Marie était évoquée la semaine dernière par nouvelobs.com.

Rachida Dati a été membre du cabinet du ministre de l'Intérieur Nicolas Sarkozy avant que celui-ci soit élu président et qu'elle soit nommée au poste de garde des Sceaux en mai.

"J'adore ce ministère", a assuré jeudi Rachida Dati. "J'adore ses enjeux, on les mène avec les difficultés. Il faut le faire parce que nous sommes responsables, je n'ai pas terminé mes réformes", a-t-elle conclu.

Dati dément un départ au ministère de l'Intérieur

[Al-khiyal]

December 13, 2007 -- By posing in a Dior dress and high-heeled boots, President Sarkozy’s glamorous Justice Minister has fuelled a revolt by judges and lawyers who are accusing her of destroying the fabric of the French justice system.

As Rachida Dati, 42, defended herself yesterday over supposedly frivolous pictures for Paris Match magazine, 37 lawyers chained themselves to a courthouse in the southern town of Bourgoin in protest against her decision to close 300 tribunals across France.

Ms Dati, who is Mr Sarkozy’s closest protégée and Cabinet icon of racial diversity, has drawn the wrath of the legal profession since she began to prune the sprawling court system this autumn. Judges’ unions, court staff and lawyers are staging marches, hunger strikes and working to rule in order to reverse her reforms.

For many judges and lawyers, Ms Dati’s decision to flaunt her looks in Paris Match was a provocation by a woman who has shown contempt towards the hardship that she is imposing. Bruno Thouzellier, president of the Syndical Union of Judges (USM), lamented “the contrast between her show of riches, dresses by grand couturiers and grand hotels and the difficult reality that justice personnel are living through”.

The trade unions are also unhappy that Ms Dati spends time accompanying Mr Sarkozy on most of his foreign trips.

The minister came under fire yesterday from Élisabeth Guigou, a former Socialist Justice Minister, for cultivating a sexy image that conflicted with her solemn function.

“This ministry occupies a special role in the State, dealing with serious subjects such as prisons,” Ms Guigou told Ms Dati in an interview for VSD magazine in the minister’s office. “You have to be careful about glamour images . . . Since your nomination, people are a little too interested in the anecdotal side of your personality.”

Ironically, Ms Guigou, a former protégée of the late President Mitterrand, suffered in the 1990s from the same nickname that is now Ms Dati’s — the Barbie Doll minister.

Ms Dati, a one-time magistrate with no political experience, is unrepentant over her glossy image despite a drop of a dozen points in her approval rating over the past month as she has faced the judicial rebellion.

Questioned about her love for Prada, Chanel and Dior, she said: “Ever since I was little I had a taste for being well dressed. It’s a question of showing respect towards others,” she told Paris Match.

As the child of poor immigrants from Algeria and Morocco, Ms Dati argues that she has earned the right to enjoy fine clothes. Her view springs straight from Mr Sarkozy’s doctrine that there is nothing wrong with flaunting the fruits of hard-earned success.

In her interview, Ms Dati also said that she loved parties and was not neglecting her romantic life. The minister is said by French media to be in a close relationship with one of Mr Sarkozy’s industrialist friends.

The President has been defending her fiercely, admiring the way that she stands out from the traditional justice world, “those grey-haired men all ranked together like peas in a pod”, as he put it on television last month.

Me, a model?

— Rachida Dati was born in 1965, one of 12 children. Her father was a Moroccan mason and her mother was from Algeria

— From the age of 16 she began working in a clinic, studying at night to gain degrees in economics and law. She is the highest-ranking person of North African descent in France

— She rejects the notion, however, that she should be a role model, saying: “My life is not a beautiful story. I am not the heroine of an instructive novel to present to the people so they can shed a tear or to encourage them to work hard”

— Nicolas Sarkozy has referred to her as “ma beurette”, meaning “my little Arab girl”

Rachida Dati courts trouble in a little Dior dress

[Al-khiyal]

LYON, France, December 17, 2007 (Reuters) - A brother of French Justice Minister Rachida Dati was sentenced on Monday to eight months in prison for drug trafficking.

Omar Dati, one of Dati's 11 brothers and sisters, was found guilty of acquiring and selling cannabis in 2004 and 2005. In 2001 he was sentenced to a four-month suspended jail sentence for heroin trafficking.

Omar, 36, is the second brother of Dati to be convicted on drugs charges. In August, an appeals court sentenced her brother Jamal to one year in prison for consuming and selling heroin.

Dati, a qualified judge who is the daughter of a Moroccan bricklayer and an illiterate Algerian housewife, has been labelled a symbol of President Nicolas Sarkozy's ethnically diverse "cabinet of openness".

But despite strong support from Sarkozy, Dati has come under fire from magistrates unions over a crime bill, which imposes tougher sentences for repeat offenders, and the planned closure of dozens of small court houses over the next few years.

French minister's brother jailed for drug-peddling

[Al-khiyal]

PARIS, December 19, 2007: French lawyers staged a one-day strike Wednesday in protest at a possible reform that could cut them out of many divorce cases.

Courtrooms throughout the country were far less busy than usual, with only cases like those involving defendants in jail awaiting trial being handled.

An official at the CNB, an organization representing France's 46,000 lawyers, said nearly all the country's bar associations respected the strike.

Lawyers in Pontoise, north of Paris, occupied the city courthouse, while in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence, they piled their traditional black robes in front of the courthouse.

The walkout was in response Justice Minister Rachida Dati's plan to allow notaries public to handle certain divorce cases, instead of judges.

Billed as an attempt to ease overcrowding in France's courtrooms, the plan could cut lawyers out of most mutual consent divorce cases. Proponents say it would also slash the cost of getting a divorce.

Lawyers' groups contend the measure would deprive lawyers of an important source of revenues.

In 2005, more than 152,000 divorces were pronounced, according to a study by the national Insee statistics agency. The same year, some 272,000 couples were married.

Lawyers also insist the proposed reform would not necessarily lower the cost of divorce, as French notaries' fees are often as expensive as those charged by lawyers.

Dati, speaking on Wednesday, played down the plan, saying it was one of several possibilities being explored. She called for the formation of a working group on the matter that would include representatives of the CNB.

French lawyers strike to protest possible changes in divorce law

[Al-khiyal]

La politique et le style de Nicolas Sarkozy désavoués par les Français

Jeudi 31 janvier 2008 -- L’état de grâce est bel et bien terminé en France pour Nicolas Sarkozy. Démarré en fanfare, le quinquennat du président français risque de sombrer dans l’impopularité chronique. Le dernier sondage publié ce matin dans le quotidien de droite Le Figaro montre une baisse de 8 points de la côte de popularité de M. Sarkozy, à 41% d’opinions favorables. Nicolas Sarkozy pourra se consoler en constatant que 89% de ses électeurs lui conservent sa confiance mais le fait est là, le président français est devenu impopulaire.

Il est fini le temps de l’été, des infirmières bulgares libérées et des caméras qui filment en permanence un homme ivre de lui-même. Sa liaison avec le mannequin Carla Bruni semble avoir plus énervé les Français que le conte de fée mis en image au parc Disneyland-Paris.

Il est aussi fini le temps où il promettait d’être « le président du pouvoir d’achat ». Nicolas Sarkozy a confessé son impuissance lors de sa conférence de presse début janvier : « les caisses sont vides », avait-il précisé. Son Premier ministre avait même parlé d’un état de « faillite » pour la France, provoquant une incompréhension au sein de l’opinion publique. C’est dire si, en fin de mois, les Français ne voient pas leur feuille de paie augmenter d’un euro. C’est en partie sur ce sujet qui avait fait en grande partie son élection que le président français paie son impopularité.

Mais le style présidentiel semble aussi poser problème. Désormais les Français ont cessé de goûter l’étalage du train de vie princier du premier d’entre eux. Assez de yacht, de jet privé, le tout payé par un homme d’affaires privé, assez de textos envoyés sous l’œil des caméras lors d’une audience papale, assez de la frime d’un parvenu au sommet de l’État.

Les Français ne lui savent même pas gré des réformes sur les heures supplémentaires, sur le service minimum, sur les régimes spéciaux de retraites, sur l’autonomie des universités, sur la réforme du contrat de travail ou sur les peines planchers. Huit mois après son élection, le roi est déjà presque nu.

[Al-khiyal]

'Sarko Babe' Rachida Dati shakes up chic streets with outsider glamour

March 5, 2008 -- A hush does not usually descend on a noisy Paris café when an aspiring local councillor walks in. It does if she is Rachida Dati. Nudges and nods ripple among the tables when the glamour figure in President Sarkozy's “Rainbow Government” drops in with leaflets as she campaigns for the council in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

Ms Dati, 42, Justice Minister and elegant emblem of the ethnically mixed Government, is among eight Cabinet neophytes that Mr Sarkozy has sent out to earn their electoral spurs in local voting that starts on Sunday.

The very French exercise is intended to confer “the legitimacy of suffrage” on those who hold power by the grace of the monarch-like President. A seat on one of the capital's 20 arrondissement councils counts. The biggest handicap of Dominique de Villepin, the last Prime Minister of President Chirac, was his failure ever to seek election anywhere.

For Ms Dati, the daughter of a Moroccan bricklayer and an Algerian housekeeper, the 7th arrondissement, the grandest Left Bank district, offers little risk, but the parachutage of “Sarko's” favourite over the head of Michel Dumont, the popular local mayor, has stirred resentment among its old-France residents.

“The President has a lot of respect for people who engage in politics and stand for public election,” said Ms Dati, seated with The Times at a corner café table. “I don't do fictional politics. I am doing this to help win back Paris and also to expose myself to voters.”

Ms Dati entered politics as Justice Minister after a career as businesswoman, junior judge and staff aide to Mr Sarkozy. Her rise from the immigrant estates is one of the big narratives of the presidency. “I never imagined being a minister one day or the candidate's spokeswoman,” she said in the no-nonsense tones that intimidate her Cabinet elders.

In the staunchly conservative 7th, Ms Dati heads the local list for Mr Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement. She will not say whether she will take the mayoral job but she is determined to be active locally and also on the main Paris council, where she will be allotted a seat.

For a time it appeared that Ms Dati could face trouble from disgruntled conservatives of the kind that derailed David Martinon, the President's spokesman, last month. Local opposition to Mr Martinon forced him to end a campaign to be mayor of the rich suburb of Neuilly, Mr Sarkozy's own political power base.

Polls show that the formidable Ms Dati will win but it is clear, watching the petite minister working the streets, that not all the locals have adopted her. “I won't vote for you, because you are parachutée!”, a middle-aged man says after shaking her hand. “She is an outsider who has been foisted on us,” said a lifelong resident in her sixties. “It's typical of that vulgar President.”

Ms Dati said: “Of course some people are suspicious of me. That's political life . . . That's part of campaigning in the field.” The minister, who faces little real opposition from Socialist and centrist candidates, is greeted like a star as she walks down the Rue Clerc, the main shopping street. Children call out “Rachida!” and take her picture. Shoppers seek autographs.

Disapproval of Mr Sarkozy's “nouveau riche” ways and disappointment with his presidency are not helping Ms Dati and the other “Sarko Babes” — ministers seeking local election in and around Paris. They include Christine Lagarde, the Finance Minister; Christine Albanel, the Culture Minister; Rama Yade, junior Minister for Human Rights; and Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, junior Environment Minister.

Ms Dati shrugs off criticism of Mr Sarkozy and the sniping at her own authoritarian style. “I just do my job,” she said. “I have a duty to deliver to the French on justice and law and order and I have to convince them in this local campaign that our project is the right one. The President is carrying out reforms and putting his campaign commitments into action. He has to account for his actions not now but in the four coming years.”

Mr Sarkozy's party is expected to take a beating in the national council elections, which end with a second round on March 16. Several big cities, including Marseilles, Toulouse and Strasbourg, are expected to fall to the Socialists.

Winning outsider

— Rachida Dati was born in 1965, one of 12 children.

— Her father was a Moroccan bricklayer and her mother was from Algeria

— She began working in a clinic at 16, studying at night for degrees in economics and law

— She is the highest-ranking person of North African descent in France

— As Justice Minister she has clashed with the judicial Establishment several times

— Nicolas Sarkozy has described her as “a sister” and ma beurette - “my little Arab girl”