His lack of common sense may end up being just a sad footnote to recent French political history, but it sheds light on a fundamental flaw in the attitude of French elites, their understanding of the nature of power, and the gap between those who incarnate the state and French society.

The failure of Gaymard and his wife — a powerful public figure — to appreciate how their choice of a huge and expensive apartment would be seen by the rest of France shows how the elite continues to assume it will be offered exceptional privileges in return for serving the republic.

This flaw is very well-described in Le Promeneur du Champs de Mars, a film based on the book written by the young journalist Mitterrand chose to be his confidant during his last year in power.

Mitterrand is portrayed as a dying monarch, obsessed with the deterioration of his body through cancer and preserving his image, despite the revelation of his ongoing postwar contacts with some of the Vichy regime’s most dubious figures.

Boasting about outlasting Charles de Gaulle and comparing his presidency with the long reign of Napoleon III, the screen Mitterrand sees himself as the last true French president, convinced that, after his death, France will be led by “accountants”.

Countries, it is said, get political leaders they deserve. It seems unlikely France’s ruling class will ever voluntarily embrace a style more in line with the Protestant modesty of northern Europe’s leaders.

French citizens do, however, have a split personality when it comes to their attitude towards the state. They expect much — from protection to prestige — and yet they are ready to rebel against the state’s daily incarnations and are quick to take to the streets to block any attempt at reform.

France’s political elite normally thrives on exploiting the contradictions of French society’s relationship with the state. But French leaders also risk losing the electorate’s respect if they abuse their position.

Traditionally, the political class exploits French people’s expectations of a certain type of leader — a monarch rather than an accountant — by assuming it will receive certain privileges in return.

The French elite craves powerful jobs not only to serve the public good but as a means of escaping normal life — using motorcades to beat traffic jams, to cite one mundane example. The longer such power is exercised, the more its holders lose touch with reality.

The French may punish the elite’s unwillingness to give up its privileges in two ways. They may vote “no” in the forthcoming referendum on the European constitutional treaty to show their distaste with those in power, or they may back a politician from a new generation — Nicolas Sarkozy — to become the next president.

Neither vote would amount to a real blow to the monarchical tendencies of the French elite. Opposition to the constitutional treaty would slow European Union integration, which is likely to rein in the excesses of national politicians. A vote for Sarkozy might not be a vote for change: his critics already accuse him of demonstrating imperial tendencies.

- Moisi is senior adviser at the French Institute for International Relations.