The French president alienates all and sundry abroad to gain support at home
French President Jacques Chirac seems to cause nothing but trouble at international meetings these days.
While disputes over the nomination of the president of the European Commission threaten to divide the European community, Mr Chirac nearly caused a diplomatic incident on Saturday by reportedly accusing new member Malta of 'moral cowardice' for not backing France's choice of candidate.
And when US President George W. Bush requested casual dress for the G8 summit in Georgia two weeks ago, the French president turned up in collar and tie.
'Jacques Chirac has a way of irritating everyone in these world meetings,' laments Marie-Ange Kergorlay, a 58 year-old librarian from Paris. 'He has basically very good ideas, but he lacks the diplomatic skills.'
Over the past two years, the president the French alternatively call the 'bulldozer' or the bon gars, the good lad, has huffed and puffed his way onto the world stage, lashing out against American foreign policy in Iraq, snapping at Britain's cautious approach to European integration and alienating some of the new EU states last year over their backing of the US-British coalition in Iraq.
But if the French president stands out as a bully abroad, his strong position on foreign policy is the one thing that keeps him above water at home. Mr Chirac's popularity in France has plummeted after his government suffered devastating defeats in the recent regional and European parliamentary elections over a series of unpopular reforms.