A Crisis of Democracy Rocks the Fifth Republic

An investigative journalist discovered the truth about Cahuzac's Swiss bank account and that he lied to the French parliament,people and it would seem the President. The scandal also centres on the question of why adequate safeguards were not in place to check on the minister who held the key post for the budget, the German magazine Der Spiegel writes.

In the 1960's when David Profumo the British  Defence minister of the time lied to parliament over his liason with Christine Keeler it brought down the government of  Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. The articlel examines whether the same thing might happen to the Hollande government and possibly even the Fifth Republic itself.

The French daily Le Monde commented on the admission by Cahuzac that jhe had lied about his Swiss bank account in a dramatic editorial, calling it "a profound democratic crisis" that adds to the economic and social crises already faced by the country. It characterised it as a breach of trust between the people and government.It worsened with the revelations about Jean-Jacques Augier , President Hollande's campaign manager. Then a rumour was published by the French journal Liberation that Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had a swiss bank account,which he has strenuously denied. Questions are being asked about who knew about Cahuzac 's account and when they knew it.

The crisis comes at a moment of deep disappointment at the socialist government's failure to deal with the economic crisis and unemployment. Der Spiegel quotes a survey as showing that 70 per cent of the electorate are dissatisfied with President Hollande and his Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.This comes with a widespread disillusion with the way that the current  political system operates in France with the president having near absolute powers.The presidency has to approve virtually all major projects, this the article says enhances the opportunities for cronyism and corruption. Government seems to be the preserve of a priviledged few who were mostly educated at the same specialist institutions. The way the administration operates and the lack of transparency is regarded as inefficient ,as is the failure to deveop Frances's private sector. The Cahuzac scandal has exposed deep weaknesses not only in the government but in the very system itself.  Could this mark the dawn of the Sixth Republic ?