Sarko’s (early) spring cleaning

Rachida Dati was not the only confidante of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to fall victim to, some would say, rather ruthless preparation for the European Parliament elections in June. Things are going the other way, too.

Alain Lamassoure, a (at least up until now) close confidante of Sarko and of main architects of the Lisbon treaty (which of course has to be ratified by Ireland) or was is that failed constitution,  was only  offered third place in UMP’s European campaign for the South-West. That list will now be headed by Dominique Baudis, a 62-year-old with two previous experiences as an MEP: in 1984-88 and in 1994-97.

Clearly,  64-year-old  Lamassoure has not taken lightly to the decision by what he though was a friend. Having been elected as an MEP three times, he now must feel similar to Ms Dati: betrayed. So why can’t he be number two you might wonder. Well, the simple fact is that one of the two top candidates has to be a women. Facing up to Sarko’s decision he said that he was too old to be playing a minor role and whether he wants third place seems very doubtful, too.

So who is next in what seems to be a very early spring cleaning effort by the French president?