Alain Juppé

Former French President Jacques Chirac (pictured) was on Thursday given a two-year suspended prison sentence for embezzling public funds when he was mayor of Paris to finance his political party and advisors for his presidential election campaign strategy. Chirac, 79, is the second French head of state to be tried by a court of justice, after the country's wartime collaborationist Vichy government leader, Marshal Philippe Pétain, in 1945. Michel Deléan reports.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's appointment of veteran Gaullist politician Alain Juppé to the post of foreign affairs minister marked the consummation of a forced political marriage between two longstanding rivals (photo), celebrated in November. Marine Turchi charts their turbulent years of sniping and strife, all of which promise further fireworks ahead of next year's presidential elections.

The French ministerial reshuffle in November appeared to announce the start of the 2012 presidential election campaign and an attempt to kickstart a government engulfed by scandals and social unrest. The new ministerial line-up saw a strengthening of ministers loyal to President Nicolas Sarkozy, a return of old-school Gaullists and the re-appointment of François Fillon as prime minister. It also saw the exit of the Centrists and figures from the renegade Left. Click here for Mediapart's reports and commentary, and the complete list of the new government team.

The long-awaited French government reshuffle, completed Sunday evening, has ushered in a ministerial team largely composed of President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling UMP party stalwarts, in a move that appears to launch the president's bid for re-election in 2012. Out go the Centrist movement heavyweights, along with the few renegades from the Left. Géraldine Delacroix and Michaël Hajdenberg sketch who's who and who's no more, and present the complete list of new government members.