By Siegfried Mortkowitz Jul 1, 2005, 7:02 GMT
Paris - When French President Jacques Chirac decided last week to travel to Singapore to defend the Paris candidature for the 2012 Olympic Games, the July 6 IOC meeting took on a distinctly political character.
For the French president's European nemesis, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, will also be in Singapore, to push London's bid to hold the Games.
The two cities are the clear favourites to be named to host the Games in seven years, well ahead of Madrid, New York and Moscow, and the mano a mano between Chirac and Blair is being widely seen as the latest chapter in their long-running political feud.
Their squabbling was last on view before, during and after this month's E.U. summit in Brussels, when Chirac headed a front of E.U. members demanding that Britain give up its lucrative annual E.U. budget rebate, worth this year some 4.6 billion euros (currently 5.5 billion dollars).
Blair refused to consider the demand unless the E.U. amended its generous farms subsidies regime, of which France is the prime beneficiary, to the tune of some 9 billion euros a year.
To the French, most of whom feel that they deserve to host the Games in 2012, especially after the bitter disappointment of losing the 2008 Olympics to Beijing, the Paris-London (or Chirac-Blair) duel has taken on historic proportions.
"Two hundred years after Trafalgar, the French and the British confront each other again," trumpeted the daily France Soir in a lengthy article that included a sidebar on the many issues of disagreement between the two nations, such as the Hundred Years' War, Napoleon and the Five Nations rugby tournament.
But the primary media interest remains the rivalry between Chirac and Blair, which has made headlines for three years now.
The feud began in October 2002 after an E.U. summit during which Chirac refused to agree to amend the Union's farms' subsidies programme, and Blair reacted with fury.
"You were very rude to me," Chirac castigated the British prime minister afterwards. "No one has ever spoken to me in that manner before."
In his pique, the French president then cancelled a bilateral summit meeting that was to have been held in France.
Less than a year later, the two were at it again. The issue this time was Iraq. Blair stood shoulder to shoulder with U.S. President George W. Bush on the Iraq invasion while Chirac made himself spokesman for opponents to the war.
Then came the E.U. summit of June 16-17 and the acrimonious wrangling over the budget.
"The climate was very hostile and bitter (at the summit)," Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said afterwards.
Blair and Chirac reportedly left Brussels furious with each other. The French president was heard to describe Blair's attitude as "pathetic", while the prime minister said Chirac's behaviour had been "bizarre".
Fortunately, the two leaders will not meet face to face in Singapore.
Blair must return to Britain on July 5, before Chirac arrives in Singapore, to prepare for the summit meeting of the G8 industrialized nations in Gleneagles, Scotland. That meeting is scheduled for July 6, when the IOC will announce its decision.
Thanks to the time difference, Chirac will be able to wait around for the announcement - and bask in the glory, if Paris wins - before jetting off to Scotland for the summit.
In any case, the decision will be vital for his political future.
After a string of election losses and the rejection of the E.U. constitutional treaty in the May 29 French referendum, Chirac's popularity has plummeted, reaching post-war lows for any French head of state.
If he still harbours plans to run for a third presidential term in 2007, a famous victory in Singapore will give him a much-needed political boost.
This is why many observers believe that if Chirac has decided to go to Singapore, it is because he has been given assurances that Paris will win the bid.
But if it does not, the 72-year-old French president will be left standing there "in his underwear," as the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine put it on Wednesday.
And if the decision should go to London, then Emperor Jacques will be left entirely without clothes.
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