Dissension in the Ranks

Patrick Devedjian might have been a happy man. As the most anti-Turk of the UMP's Young Turks, he should have been pleased that Sarkozy had decided to maintain the requirement of a referendum for any future Turkish accession to the EU. But he had also suffered the recent rebuke of having Xavier Bertrand and Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet dispatched to keep an eye on his faltering party leadership. So he decided to issue another provocation. Today he announced that the party would attempt to undo the 35-hour week. This was a direct assault on Sarko, who immediately sent Bertrand into the field to cut Devedjian down to size. There would be no change in the legal work week, Bertrand announced, and Sarkozy then declared that Bertrand, as always, spoke words of wisdom.

So the breach, already apparent for many weeks, is now open and probably irreparable. Devedjian will be shown the door, and in his own mind he may well see himself in the role that Sarkozy once played vis-à-vis Chirac: the treacherous lieutenant bold enough to endure une traversée du désert in the hope of some day reaching the Promised Land. If, as has been rumored, the charges against Villepin in the Clearstream Affair are soon dismissed, then Villepin may emerge as Devedjian's Balladur. From Bordeaux Alain Juppé is no doubt observing these developments with avid eyes. "I have no friends," Sarkozy is supposed to have said. His erstwhile allies seem to be intent on proving him right.