PARIS: An opinion poll on Sunday showed French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s popularity rebounding from record lows, but he faced a growing scandal over allegations of kickbacks on 1990s naval deals with Pakistan.The conservative leader, 55, hoped a cabinet reshuffle last week would help turn the page on a difficult year marred by allegations of illegal funding of his conservative UMP party and national protests over his pension reform.
Sarkozy is also trying to use an ambitious agenda under France’s year-long presidency of the G20 group of nations, which began this month, as a platform for rebuilding his popularity in the run-up to a presidential election in early 2012.
A survey by pollsters Ifo in the Journal du Dimanche showed Sarkozy’s approval rating up 3 percentage points to 32 percent in early November, after hitting a low-point in October during union-led protests against legislation to raise the pension age.
The poll was conducted either side of a Nov. 14 cabinet reshuffle, which retained heavyweights like Economy Minister Christine Lagarde but ditched centrists and left-wing converts to shore up Sarkozy’s right-wing support base.
However, Sunday’s newspapers all led on the investigation into the “Karachi affair”, in which 11 French naval engineers and technicians died in a 2002 bomb attack in the Pakistani port, originally thought to be the work of the militants.
Relatives of the victims launched a case this week against former President Jacques Chirac and his then chief-of-staff Dominique de Villepin, alleging the suicide attack was a reprisal for Chirac’s decision to halt commissions on Agosta submarine sales to Pakistan when he won power in 1995.
A judge is also separately investigating whether illegal payments from the contract were used to finance the 1995 presidential bid of Sarkozy’s political mentor Edouard Balladur, prime minister in 1994 when the submarine contracts were signed.
“We owe the truth to the families,” Socialist legislator Jerome Cahuzac told Europe 1 radio on Sunday, calling for a parliamentary investigation into the affair and accusing the government of withholding information on Balladur’s funding.
“NOTHING BEING HIDDEN”
Villepin, Sarkozy’s political rival, said on Friday he had “very strong suspicions of illegal back-payments” to French politicians and asked to testify before the judge.
On Sunday, Villepin said as far as he was aware there was not any link between the 2002 bombing and Chirac’s decision to stop the payment of commissions seven years earlier.
Sarkozy, who was budget minister in Balladur’s government when the deals were signed, on Saturday denounced what he called a “controversy which has no basis” and pledged all the necessary documentation would be placed at the disposal of investigators.
The daughter of one of the engineers killed in the attack told Le Parisien newspaper on Sunday Sarkozy’s statement “sounds like a confession.
“He is acknowledging there are documents which are interesting for the investigation which has not yet been handed over,” Magali Drouet told the newspaper.
Alain Juppe, who was named defence minister in last week’s reshuffle and served as prime minister in 1995-97 under Chirac, said Sarkozy’s comments were a commitment that judges could have access to any documents they need.
“That does not mean that there is anything being hidden. That means he is ready to respond to future demands.” – Reuters
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