There is not in this House to the courageous and cowards

Lionel Jospin had set six days to apologize, in 1998, for having issued a doubt on the opinion of the right to the abolition of slavery. Dominique de Villepin has developed only twenty-four hours to do, in turn, Act of contrition. Dispatch to the measurement of the outcry caused by his remarks against François Hollande, which he denounced Tuesday "cowardice". "If some words you have personally wounded, I am sorry and I withdraw," he launched yesterday at the first Secretary of the PS at the outset of the meeting of the current issues. "I denounced an attitude". "In any case, I wanted engage me in personal attacks", assured in a very solemn tone.

Trust lost

For left to right, this mea culpa officially ended the incident. Dominique de Villepin was highly applauded by UMP deputies, who were largely dissociated from him the day before. And the Socialists have been thrilled to have forced the premier to "swallow his hat". Even if the Prime Minister gave the word to "apologize", Jean-Marc Ayrault, the leader of the PS deputies, has "taken note" of his "regrets", believing that "it was a duty." "There is not in this House to the courageous and cowards." "There is that elected officials who have had the courage to confront universal suffrage", however he stressed, in a pique in Dominique de Villepin, who was never elected.

But if time was yesterday to a semblance of reconciliation, unease is still not cleared between Dominique de Villepin and his majority. After the boycott of the motion of censure, the ovation made to Borloo, the veto to the proposed merger Suez-GDF, and Tuesday, distances of UMP deputies, while taking now seems to indicate that the Prime Minister has the confidence of its majority. Can, under these conditions, continue to govern in the eleven months prior to the presidential election Resigned to that Jacques Chirac retains his Prime Minister, some members think about solutions that would allow the two parties to reconnect. Jean-Pierre Raffarin suggested yesterday on Europe 1 that Dominique de Villepin presents in detail the programme of action for the last year of the quinquennium. A handful of Deputies had proposed the day before the definition of a "new majority Pact." Others, including Bernard Accoyer, President of the UMP group, want the Prime Minister say clearly what its intentions for 2007, history of lowering tension. But, at Matignon, considering that this tension fall on its own after the summer rest members of Parliament, and before a year necessarily constrained by the parliamentary bottling.

No cap change

At the time, there is no change of course that is sustainable: we must continue to implement the promises of 2002. "The Government will be the task to respond to the expectations of the French security, employment, education, solidarity", said the Prime Minister yesterday, emphasizing his "concern for consultation and gathering".

With Nicolas Sarkozy, is hardly hence for a "majority Pact", essentially being to do everything that this can be seen too, to prevent Dominique de Villepin to exist politically and especially to interfere with the President of the UMP in his presidential campaign. A "release under supervision" summarized yesterday by Deputy Dominique Paillé: "the Prime Minister was evidence of a humility that it did not know him." I hope that it is to dispose not.