Paris Olympics failure is new blow for Chirac
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-07 10:04

 CHIRAC OFFERS CONGRATULATIONS

As Chirac flew to Scotland, his office issued a statement congratulating London and wishing it success in 2012.

Chirac, 72, had hoped that securing the Olympics would have lifted the sagging confidence of French voters and given a boost to the sluggish economy by creating jobs and generating revenues for tourism, construction and the service sector in general.

Critics speak of a "fin de regne" (end of reign) after Chirac's 10 years as president. His hopes of winning or even running in the next presidential election in 2007 are now slim.

Chirac's popularity has dropped since French voters rejected the EU's constitution on May 29 -- partly out of discontent with his policies -- and he suffered a new blow late last month when a row with Blair meant the EU did not agree a long-term budget.

Chirac labelled Blair's stance "pathetic" at the EU summit after Blair said he would make concessions on Britain's budget rebate from the EU only if the bloc agreed to a wider review of spending, including the hefty subsidies French farmers receive.

The two men also took opposing positions over the U.S.-led Iraq war, in which Blair was U.S. President George W. Bush's staunchest ally while Chirac led resistance to the invasion.

Chirac has little to encourage him on the economic front because growth is sluggish and the unemployment rate is at a 5-year high of 10.2 percent. Opinion polls show many French centre-right voters would also prefer Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to be the conservatives' presidential candidate in 2007.

Morale is low in France -- and securing the right to host the Olympics had been a golden opportunity to lift it.

"What is certain is that there is a feeling of a France that doubts itself, and this vote will accentuate it. Bizarrely, one would not ask questions about a British decline if Paris had won and London were second," political analyst Pascal Boniface said.

"But given the particular position of France and the fact the French love both arrogance and self-flagellation, we will have a debate like that," he told Europe 1 radio.

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