The French “no” was a massive blow to the political credibility of French President Jacques Chirac. So he did what French Presidents usually do in such circumstances: rather than admit that French voters might be right, he sacked Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin as a scapegoat, replacing him with his protégé Dominique de Villepin, who has never held an elective office.
法国人的拒绝是对希拉克总统政治公信力的一次重大打击。因此他的反应和众多的法国总统们如出一辙：他宁愿罢免总理让—皮埃尔·拉法兰，并代之以门徒，从未通过选举获得过任何职位的多米尼克·德维尔潘，而不愿承认法国公众的决定可能是正确的。