Setback for Jospin as interior minister resigns over Corsica

Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's office yesterday confirmed the resignation of the interior minister, Mr Jean-Pierre Chevenement. The departure of France's "top cop" is a serious blow to Mr Jospin.

Mr Chevenement quit in protest at Mr Jospin's Corsican policy. He is now glorying in the distinction of being the only minister to resign three times in two decades on matters of principle.

Right-wing politicians have proposed an alliance, and Le Monde suggests he may be planning to stand for the presidency.

Although originally from the Marxist far left, Mr Chevenement's tough stance on crime and immigration reassured many right-wing voters. He exerts influence far beyond his small Citizens' Movement party.

Within Mr Jospin's "plural left" coalition, Mr Chevenement provided a balance to the Greens and to the Justice Minister, Ms Elisabeth Guigou.

Right-wing politicians praised him and regretted his resignation, while the Greens said they "wouldn't weep" over his departure.

Mr Jospin's "dream team" cabinet of 1997 is finished. In November 1999, the Prime Minister lost his charismatic minister of the economy and finance, Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was forced to resign for allegedly accepting bogus legal fees.

Mr Claude Allegre, the education minister, resigned last March after months of student and teacher protests.

Both men - like Mr Chevenement - were close personal friends of Mr Jospin.

Mr Jospin hates taking decisions under pressure, but he suffered greater political damage by allowing the Chevenement resignation to drag on for over a month.

The Prime Minister will have to defend his ill-understood and controversial peace plan for Corsica at a socialist party gathering in La Rochelle next weekend. Mr Chevenement was replaced yesterday by Mr Daniel Vaillant, who leaves the post of minister for relations with parliament and government spokesman.

However, Mr Vaillant, who was a biological technician before he entered socialist party politics 21 years ago, will have difficulty replacing Mr Chevenement in the hearts of the French police.

A lacklustre politician whose chief qualification is his loyalty to Mr Jospin, Mr Vaillant will have the unenviable task of defending the draft law on Corsican autonomy in the National Assembly this autumn.