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Philippe Séguin

If you can possibly ignore its blood-soaked foundation and its disregard for the freedom of the Church, one can appreciate that the French Republic does republicanism with a dash of pizzazz, as evidenced by the late Philippe Séguin’s official robes as President of the Cour des comptes. Of course, most of this panache it inherited from its intermittent monarchic and (even more so) imperial past. It also inherited from Louis XIV an ever-present spirit of centralisation — the Republic frowns upon the principle of subsidiarity.

Monsieur Séguin was a decent sort. Not so much a conservative as a social-Gaullist anti-liberal, he led the opposition to the Maastricht treaty, most famously facing the then-president François Mitterand in a television debate. Despite a precocious refusal to toe the line, he was President of the National Assembly from 1993 to 1997, and head of the Gaullist party, the RPR, from ’97 until his 1999 resignation, which paved the way for the rise of the thoroughly lamentable Nicolas Sarkozy.

And he was a jowly man if ever there was one, with the sort of face caricaturists dream of.

Published at 4:42 pm on Sunday 26 September 2010. Categories: Errant Thoughts France Tags: .
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