In his career working at theMinistry of Foreign Affairs, De Villepin rose through the ranks of the French right as one of Chirac's protégés. He came into the international spotlight as Minister of Foreign Affairs with his opposition to the2003 invasion of Iraq, one year after his appointment to the office, which culminated with a speech to the United Nations.[1] Before his tenure as prime minister, he also served as Minister of the Interior (2004–2005).
After being replaced byFrançois Fillon as prime minister, De Villepin was indicted in connection with theClearstream affair;[2][3] he was subsequently cleared of charges of complicity in allowingfalse accusations to proceed against presidential rivalNicolas Sarkozy regarding bribes paid on a sale of warships toTaiwan.[4] De Villepin enjoyed a modest return to public favour (from theleft-wing tofar-left) for his public critique of President Sarkozy's style of "imperial rule".[5]
De Villepin has written poetry, a book about poetry, and several historical and political essays, along with a study ofNapoleon. He is an honorary member of theInternational Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
Villepin was born inRabat, Morocco, and spent some time in Venezuela, where his family lived for four years. He then lived in the United States, and has said that he "grew up" there. During his teenage years, "the 'Beat generation' movement left its mark on me, so did the hippie movement".[6] He was inspired byJack Kerouac and other American poets. He graduated from theLycée Français de New York in 1971.[7] He has three children:Marie (b. 1986), Arthur, and Victoire (b. 1989).
Contrary to what his surname suggests, Villepin is not from an aristocratic background. His ancestors added the particle "de" to the family name.[8] His great-grandfather was acolonel in the French army, his grandfather was a board member for several companies, and his fatherXavier de Villepin was a diplomat and a member of theSenate. Villepin speaks French, English and Spanish.
When his mother died, Villepin gave a eulogy "full of the grandest and most sonorous cadences of the French language", wroteThe Independent (UK) in 2010. He "spoke of his mother's passionate belief in the greatness and the destiny of France, and, implicitly, the greatness and destiny of her son". One mourner stated that he seemed to speak "of France and of himself as being the same thing".[9]
Villepin studied at theInstitut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and went on to theÉcole nationale d'administration (ENA), France's highly selective post-graduate school which trains its top civil servants. Villepin also holds degrees in Civil law and French literature from the universities ofPanthéon-Assas andParis X Nanterre. At the end of his studies, he completed his military service as a naval officer on board theAircraft Carrier Clemenceau. Villepin then entered a career in diplomacy. His assignments were:
Villepin was introduced to Jacques Chirac in the early 1980s and became one of his advisers on foreign policy. In 1993 he became chief of staff (directeur de cabinet) ofAlain Juppé, theForeign Minister inÉdouard Balladur's cabinet, who was Chirac's politicalheir apparent.
Villepin then became director of Chirac's successful 1995 presidential campaign and was rewarded with the key job of Secretary-General of theÉlysée Palace during Chirac's first term asPresident of the Republic (1995–2002). He advised the president to hold an early general election in 1997, while theFrench National Assembly was overwhelmingly dominated by the president's party. This was a risky gamble, and Chirac's party went on to lose the elections. Villepin offered Chirac his resignation afterwards, but it was turned down. Villepin's flawed advice on the election increased the perception among many politicians on the right that Villepin had no experience or understanding of grassroots politics, and owed his enviable position only to being Chirac's protégé.
Villepin has had an uneasy relationship with the members of his own political side. He has in the past made a number of demeaning remarks about members of parliament from his own party. In addition, the mutual distaste between Villepin andNicolas Sarkozy, head of theUnion for a Popular Movement (UMP) majority party, is well known.
Dominique de Villepin with U.S. Secretary of StateColin Powell, 2003Villepin next toHassan Rouhani during talks on the Iranian nuclear program
He was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Chirac in the cabinet of Prime MinisterJean-Pierre Raffarin at the beginning of Chirac's second term in 2002.
Villepin's most famous assignment as Chirac's foreign minister was opposing the U.S. plan toinvadeIraq, giving France a leading role in the grouping of countries such as Germany, Belgium, Russia and China that opposed the invasion. The speech[10] he gave to the UN to block a second resolution allowing the use of force againstSaddam Hussein's regime received loud applause.
During mid-2003 Villepin organized theOpération 14 juillet that attempted to rescue his former student,Ingrid Betancourt, who was being held byFARC rebels in Colombia. The operation failed, and because he had neither informed Colombia, Brazil, nor President Chirac of the mission, it resulted in a political scandal.
His actions against radical Islam included mandatory courses for Muslim clerics, notably in the French language (as indications were that one-third of them may not have been fluent in the national language), in moderate Muslim theology and in French secularism:laïcité,Republican principles and the law. While Sarkozy created theFrench Council of the Muslim Faith as the official representative of Muslims in France, Villepin would have preferred a "Muslim foundation", in which mosque-based representatives would be balanced by secular Muslims.
He also cracked down on radical Muslim clerics, causing an uproar when he tried to expel Abdelkader Bouziane, animam alleged to have said to the press that, according to Ancient Islamic texts, adulterous people could be whipped orstoned. When the decision to expel him was overturned by the courts, because the journalistic reporting of LyonMag was deemed biased, Villepin pushed a change of the law through Parliament, and Bouziane was sent home.
President Chirac was at one point thought to have turned his eye on Villepin as a possible successor, assuming that he himself would not enter the 2007 presidential contest. However, Nicolas Sarkozy was chosen to represent the centre-right UMP party.
In an address to the nation, Chirac had declared that the new cabinet's top priority would be to curb unemployment, which was consistently hovering above 10%, calling for a "national mobilization" to that effect.
Villepin's cabinet was marked by its small membership (for France), and its hierarchical unity: all members had the rank of Minister, and there were no Secretaries of State, the lowest cabinet member rank. The aim of this decision was for the cabinet to form a close-knit and more efficient team to combat unemployment.
The economy was growing sluggishly and a significant drop in unemployment was yet to be seen. Villepin's aim was therefore to restore the French people's trust in their government, an achievement for which he publicly set himself a deadline of a hundred days from the appointment of cabinet.
Another issue was theEuropean Constitution, rejected by France and the Netherlands in referendums.
After Pope Benedict XVI was widely chastized for appearing to criticize Islam in a speech on 12 September 2006, French author Robert Redeker came to the pontiff's defense, in response to which he received death threats that forced him and his family to go into hiding. Villepin commented that "everyone has the right to express their opinions freely – at the same time that they respect others, of course". The lesson of this episode, according to Villepin, was "how vigilant we must be to ensure that people fully respect one another in our society".[11]
Some had speculated that Villepin, with his diplomatic experience and the prestige associated with the job of prime minister, would negotiate a new treaty with theEuropean Union, while Sarkozy would run the country at home. However, Villepin obtained favorable reviews from the press and temporarily increased popularity in polls. In particular, he was increasingly cited as a possiblepresidential candidate for 2007, although Nicolas Sarkozy had publicly stated that he himself was giving considerable attention to that election. Villepin and Sarkozy initially avoided any open division.
Villepin declared that lowering unemployment was the number one objective of his government (which had also been stated by other prime ministers before him, albeit to no avail). He, as well as the UMP party, believed that France's workforce rules were too rigid and discouraged employment, and that some liberalizing reforms were necessary in order to "correct" the French social model.
On 2 August 2005 he issuedordinances establishing a new kind of work contract (calledCNE) for small enterprises, with fewer guarantees than ordinary contracts. While Villepin's measures would surely have been approved by his wide UMP majority in Parliament. Villepin said the government needed to act fast, especially when Parliament was going on its summer recess.
On 16 January 2006 he announced a similar kind of work contract (calledContrat première embauche, orCPE) for young people (under 26). The parliament approved on 8 February. Subsequently, students started toprotest. This wave of protest eventually forced the government to give in. Although the law on theCPE is formally still valid, the government promised to hinder its application and initiated a new legal initiative which will abolish the key points of theCPE. During the protests, Villepin was widely perceived as stubborn and arrogant. As a consequence, his popularity rates went down rapidly and he was no longer regarded as a serious contender for the 2007 presidential election.
Another major issue in Villepin's government was the state of the national budget. France runs high deficits, which run afoul of the rules set in the EUMaastricht Treaty. Villepin's margin of maneuver in that respect was extremely slim.
On Thursday, 16 March 2006, tens of thousands of French university and school students marched to demand the government scrap a contentious youth jobs clause, known as First Employment Contract (CPE). The law, intended as a response to the2005 riots, was intended to stimulate job growth and reduce the country's high youth unemployment rate by allowing employers to fire employees aged under 26 within the first two years of their employment for any or no reason. Supporters of the law argued that such probationary arrangements are not unusual in Western countries and that the current system in France discourages employers from hiring people whom they may be unable to fire if they prove unsuitable for the job. Critics argued that the CPE discriminated unnecessarily against the young and decreases job security. The union movement issued an ultimatum to Villepin to scrap the law by 20 March or face a general strike. This ultimatum expired without concession. A general strike was called for 28 March.
On 28 March, between one and three million people demonstrated across France. The protests were accompanied by some violence and 800 people were arrested, 500 of them in Paris. Prime Minister Villepin refused to withdraw the CPE but called for negotiations on adapting it. The demonstrators for the most part called for the complete withdrawal of the CPE.
The CPE was withdrawn by Jacques Chirac on 10 April.[13]
On 20 June 2006, during the questions to government in theNational Assembly, Dominique de Villepin accused the head of the Socialist PartyFrançois Hollande of cowardice.[14] Hollande had questioned the Prime Minister about the recent "insider trading" scandal involving the aerospace companyEADS and executiveNoël Forgeard. This triggered an incident in the Assembly, with Socialist deputies converging on the government benches until they were stopped by the Assembly ushers. Hollande demanded apologies and the resignation of the Prime Minister;[15] the next day, Dominique de Villepin apologized. This event resulted in criticism even from Villepin's ownUMP party, with UMP parliamentarians including Assembly vice-presidentYves Bur suggesting that presidentChirac should appoint another prime minister.[16]
In 2004, French judges were given a list by an anonymous source containing the names of politicians and others who, it was alleged, had deposited kickbacks from a 1991 arms sale to Taiwan into secret accounts at Clearstream, a private bank in Luxembourg. The most prominent name on the list was that of Nicolas Sarkozy, Villepin's rival for power in the UMP. The list was later shown to be fraudulent, a discovery Villepin kept from the public for 15 months at a time when the two men were vying for party supremacy.[17] Meanwhile, the source of the list was later revealed to be a longtime associate of Villepin's, one Jean-Louis Gergorin, an executive at EADS. Critics claimed that Villepin, perhaps with the support of then-president Jacques Chirac, had tried to defame his rival. Sarkozy, in turn, filed a suit against whoever was behind the creation of the Clearstream list. Villepin was eventually acquitted in 2010[18] (see#Clearstream trial below).
There was speculation that Villepin might be a candidate in the2007 Presidential election; Interior ministerNicolas Sarkozy was selected unopposed as the UMP's presidential candidate on 14 January 2007.[19] On 12 March 2007 Villepin formally endorsed Sarkozy for President.[20]
On 15 May 2007, the last full day of PresidentJacques Chirac's term, Villepin tendered his resignation from the office of prime minister and it was accepted by the President.[21] He was replaced two days later byFrançois Fillon.
De Villepin has never held elected office; theFrench Constitution allows the president to appoint unelected ministers. This is a political liability for him, because he is periodically accused of being out of touch with the realities of ordinary citizens.[citation needed] He is also reported to despise elected officials, calling members of Parliamentconnards (assholes).[citation needed] Villepin is not the first "unelected" prime minister, even in the relatively short history of theFifth Republic: notable predecessors includeGeorges Pompidou, who was a banker before being called to office, andRaymond Barre, who had a previous career as a professor and appointed official, and started an elected career only after being Prime minister.
On the first day of the civil trial for his part in the Clearstream affair, Villepin accused President Sarkozy of pursuing him for political reasons. Sarkozy has the status of a civil plaintiff in the case.[22]
On Thursday, 28 January 2010, the judgement was finally handed down and Villepin was acquitted of every accusation against him in the affair.The following morning the prosecution announced that it would file an appeal against this verdict, thus further dragging out the affair another year. Villepin was finally cleared by an appeals court in September 2011.[23]
Soon after his exit from daily political life, on 9 January 2008 de Villepin returned to legal practice.[24] Since then, he has travelled on business to Iran, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia.[24] Over its first two years, the bureau had revenues of 4.65 million euros and earned profit of 2.6 million.[24]Alstom,TotalEnergies andVeolia and theBugshan family conglomerate have all been clients.[24][25] and he has a close relationship withAl-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and her motherMoza bint Nasser.[24] He advocated forcefully the Palestinian cause during the2014 Israel–Gaza conflict,[26] at the request of the Qataris, and protested the French legal ban on Islamic facial veils for women in 2014.[27] De Villepin counsels theQatar Investment Authority.[28] He is president of the advisory board ofUniversal Credit Rating Group, a Sino-Russo-American bond credit rating agency, and international advisor toChina Minsheng Bank.[24]
From November 2008 until June 2009, de Villepin chaired a six-member panel of EU experts advising the Bulgarian government. Set up by Bulgaria's prime ministerSergei Stanishev, the advisory board was mandated to recommend ways to help the country adjust toEU membership.[29]
In 2010, Villepin quit the UMP and set up a new party,République Solidaire, with the aim of running for president in the 2012 elections.[30] He advocated the rewithdrawal of France from the NATO integrated military command.[31] However, he failed to secure the 500 necessary "parrainages" endorsements from elected officials in the preliminaries to the presidential race, and his candidacy did not proceed.[32]
In 2016, the French investigating judge Sabine Kheris requested that a case be referred to the Court of Justice of the Republic. Three former ministers, Dominique de Villepin,Michel Barnier andMichèle Alliot-Marie, were suspected of having allowed the exfiltration of the mercenaries responsible for the attack on the Bouaké camp in 2004, killing nine French soldiers. The operation was allegedly intended to justify a response operation against theLaurent Gbagbo government in the context of the 2004 crisis inIvory Coast.[33]
In March 2020, Dominique de Villepin opened a commercial gallery in Hong Kong together with his son, Arthur de Villepin. The gallery is located on Hollywood Road inCentral, and opened with an inaugural exhibition of work by the Chinese painterZao Wou-ki.[35]
In the wake of the dissolution of the National Assembly by Emmanuel Macron, de Villepin, architect of the 1997 dissolution, lamented his decision to seek new elections, and said that his second quinquennat merely "float[ed in the] absence of clear ideas," but nonetheless called for a moderate coalition. Distancing himself fromÉric Ciotti and his decision to cooperate with the far-right, while de Villepin did not explicitly specify he would vote for theNew Popular Front over theNational Rally, he did say that "I consider that priority must be given to the struggle against the National Rally[, ] the real threat to our country."[36]
De Villepin launched a new political party on 24 June 2025 called Humanist France. He said in an interview withLe Parisien that too many French political parties were populist, one-upping each other, and stigmatising. He wanted France to move away from polarisingidentity politics. He opened his party up to any political view in order to bring citizens together to "defend social justice and the republican order". He said voters deserve choice, and not be stuck "between the radicalism of the LFI and the RN".[37][38][39] He lamented the state of the world as more dangerous "without rules, without international law, where the law of the jungle, the law of the strongest prevails." Polling shows him to be one of the most popular politicians in France.[38] A BVA poll indicated that he was pulling most of his support fromLa France Insoumise. However, other polling puts him far down in preferences.[37]
Villepin enjoys traveling through the U.S., and has spoken ofRoute 66 as giving a feeling of the "wide open spaces of America" that signify "dreams and opportunities". He has said that the U.S. is a source of inspiration for "every lover of liberty and democracy".[6]
L'option de la guerre peut apparaître a priori la plus rapide. Mais n'oublions pas qu'après avoir gagné la guerre, il faut construire la paix. "The option of war might seem at first to be the swiftest. But let us not forget that having won the war, one has to build peace." (address on Iraq at theUnited Nations Security Council on 14 February 2003, shortly before theUS-led invasion of Iraq[41])
With the collapse ofSaddam Hussein's regime, a dark era is drawing to a close. And we welcome it... Together we must now build peace in Iraq and for France this has to mean the United Nations having a central role. Together we must build peace throughout the region and this can be done only through the determined search for a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[42]
Let us have the courage to declare a first truth:International law does not give a right to security which engages, in return, a right to occupy and even less so, a right to massacre. There is a right to peace, and that right is the same for all peoples. The security which Israel seeks today, is done so against peace and against the Palestinian people.[43]
2001:Les Cent-Jours ou l'esprit de sacrifice (Perrin, 2001 – Le Grand livre du mois, 2001 – Perrin, 2002 – Éditions France loisirs, 2003); a book about the "One Hundred Days" between the return ofNapoleon from Elba and the defeat at theBattle of Waterloo; awarded the Grand Prix d'Histoire of theFondation Napoléon (2001) and the Prix des Ambassadeurs (2001).
2002:Le cri de la gargouille (Éditions Albin Michel, 2002. Librairie générale française, 2003), a "meditation" upon French politics, an analysis of differing aspects of the French political character.
2003:Éloge des voleurs de feu (NRF-Gallimard, 2003), in EnglishOn Poetry, which is some reflections on the subject; Villepin is said to have worked on the final draft during the UN session where the French successfully blocked authorization of the2003 War in Iraq.
2003: Preface toAventuriers du monde 1866–1914 : Les grands explorateurs français au temps des premiers photographes (L'Iconoclaste, 2003), collective work.
2004: Preface tol'Entente cordiale de Fachoda à la Grande Guerre : Dans les archives du Quai d'Orsay, Maurice Vaïsse (Éditions Complexe, 2004).
2004: Preface, withJack Straw, tol'Entente cordiale dans le siècle (Odile Jacob, 2004).
2004: Preface to1905, la séparation des Églises et de l'État : les textes fondateurs (Perrin, 2004).
2004: Preface toMehdi Qotbi : le voyage de l'écriture (Paris : Somogy, 2004 – Paris : Somogy, 2005), "published on the occasion of an exhibition organized by the Institut Français du Nord and Attijariwafa Bank, presented at the Galerie Delacroix of the Institut français du Nord at Tangiers from 25 June to 5 September 2004 and at the Espace d'Art Actua of the Attijariwafa Bank, Casablanca, Oct–Dec 2004" – Villepin has a personal connection with the Maghreb and the Third World – "born in Rabat, raised in Latin America", as the bios put it;
2004:Le requin et la mouette (Plon : A. Michel, 2004), essay.
2005:Histoire de la diplomatie française with Jean-Claude Allain, Françoise Autrand, Lucien Bély (Perrin, 2005).
2005:Urgences de la poésie ([Casablanca] : Eds. de la Maison de la Poésie du Maroc, July 2005) tr. into Arabic by Mohamed Bennis, illustr. by Mehdi Qotbi; includes three poems by Villepin himself, "Elegies barbares", "Le droit d'aînesse", and "Sécession".
1986: Villepin, Patrick de,Encore et toujours : François Xavier Galouzeau de Villepin, 1814–1885, un Lorrain émigré à Paris au XIXe siècle (Paris (21 rue Surcouf, 75007) : P. de Villepin, 1986)
1987: Villepin, Patrick de,"Maintenir" : histoire de la famille Galouzeau de Villepin (1397–1987) ([Paris] (21 rue Surcouf, 75007) : P. de Villepin, 1987)
2004: Le Maire, Bruno,Le ministre : récit (Paris : B. Grasset, 2004)ISBN2-246-67611-8.
2005: Derai, Yves et Mantoux, Aymeric,L'homme qui s'aimait trop (Paris : l'Archipel, impr. 2005)ISBN2-84187-753-1.
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