Only one story in France looks likely to push Cécilia Sarkozy out of the limelight: the future of outgoing president, Jacques Chirac, facing possible criminal proceedings. This reflects a sea change in media coverage, because in the past French presidents have enjoyed not just judicial immunity but also a news blanket on anything remotely scandalous.

For example, few French citizens had any idea that former President Francois Mittérand had an institutionalised mistress, who stunned the whole country by appearing at his funeral between the two illegitimate children he had fathered. True, British Prime Minister John Major was never exposed while he was in office for his fling with one of his ministers, Edwina Curry, but this was simply because for once Fleet Street missed a sensational story. They would have published without a moment’s hesitation. 

The closest Chirac ever came to being directly accused of wrongdoing was during a 1976 trial involving his former chief of staff from his 18 years as mayor of Paris. One of the defence lawyers pointed to some empty chairs behind the defendant and claimed that there was one significant absentee, inferring that the mystery man, and not his client, was responsible for the alleged corruption in school building contracts. Court reporters put down their pencils and shook their heads gloomily as the lawyer went to the brink and referred to “the president whose name we dare not utter”.

Among Chirac’s formal political allies found guilty of corruption was Alain Juppé, prime minister of France from 1995 to 1997. In December 2004 Juppé received a suspended 18-month sentence for mishandling public funds. He was found to have created fictitious council posts for activists who in reality were working for his political party, Rassemblement pour la République (RPR).

Chirac, now 74, having lost his immunity, is likely to face awkward questions on a number of different investigations. Under the French judicial system, an examining magistrate will decide whether to treat him as a witness, or instead as an ‘assisted’ witness. If the latter, it would mean he was seen as a potential suspect who could ultimately face criminal charges. There seems little prospect that President Sarkozy will follow in the tradition of US presidents of pardoning their predecessors.