Dashing new French PM led fight against Iraq war

The silver-haired and elegant Dominique de Villepin, the new Prime Minister of France, was the face of French opposition to the Iraq war.

The career diplomat, intellectual, poet and author, was last night named to the post by French President Jacques Chirac in a shake-up of the Government after the crushing defeat over the EU constitution.

Villepin won applause at the United Nations and plaudits at home on the right and the left for opposing the US-led war in Iraq, but angered and frustrated Washington.

Washington and Paris have since been rebuilding ties.

Villepin's appointment is likely to go down well with European allies.

At home, Villepin's priority will be to create jobs in an economy burdened with 10.2 per cent unemployment, a more than five-year high, to boost growth and curb public spending.

Although he will have the President's full support, Villepin has little experience in the rough and tumble of domestic politics. He has never stood for election and has prickly relations with the parliamentary majority he now relies on.

In 1997, Villepin was a prime mover behind Chirac's early dissolution of Parliament, which saw a conservative majority blown away by a Socialist-led coalition.

The disaster earned him the nickname "Nero", a reference to the emperor who famously left Rome in flames. He is also sometimes nicknamed "Zorro".

He became Interior Minister last year after two years as Foreign Minister, when he played the flamboyant foil to statesman Chirac as they opposed President Bush's intervention in Iraq.

Villepin was the elegant, eloquent public face and voice of France's staunch opposition. He has an acerbic wit and is not one to suffer fools gladly.

But although many admire his panache, detractors worry about the voracious appetite for power of a man who has never faced an election.

With campaigning on the constitution referendum barely started, de Villepin launched a blatant bid for Prime Minister Raffarin's job, irritating the holder of the office and Chirac, while underlining concerns about his temperament.

As Interior Minister, he cracked down on Islamic militancy. He made it a requirement for the country's Muslim leaders to take courses on the language, laws and customs of France, as well as tightening up on immigration laws.

- AGENCIES