FRENCH politicians are better at avoiding retirement than avoiding the courtroom, or so it sometimes seems. The race is now on for the centre-right nomination in the country’s presidential elections next year. The front-runners are a 61-year-old former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who first won elected office in 1977, and a 70-year-old who served as prime minister two decades ago, Alain Juppé. Mr Juppé was once convicted of political corruption and banned from public office for a year. Now it is Mr Sarkozy’s turn to be hauled before the judges.
On February 16th Mr Sarkozy was formally placed under investigation for breaching campaign-finance limits during his failed 2012 re-election bid. These fix the maximum a candidate can spend at €22.5m ($ 25.1m). Investigators are looking into whether Mr Sarkozy was aware that a system of false invoices charged to the party were in fact used for his own campaign. (He denies any knowledge of the subterfuge.) Over a dozen party officials have already been placed under investigation in connection with the affair, including Jérôme Lavrilleux, Mr Sarkozy’s deputy campaign director, who first acknowledged the…
The Economist: Europe