FRANCE: Sarkozy Charges Ahead

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Analysis by Michael Deibert

PARIS, Jul 30 2007 (IPS) - Since his inauguration as France&#39s president in May, Nicolas Sarkozy has appeared as a whirlwind of activity following the often-lethargic decade-plus rule of his predecessor, Jacques Chirac.

The initiatives of the Sarkozy government thus far have been many, often touching on controversial topics.

There is the creation of a much-criticised Ministry of National Identity to address France&#39s immigration concerns. There was Sarkozy on a recent trip to Senegal, calling for an end to Franco-African diplomacy based on personal relations between leaders (a hallmark of the presidencies of Chirac and François Mitterrand) and more on "partnership between nations equal in their rights and responsibilities."

Sarkozy successfully lobbied a recent European Union meeting in Brussels for the removal of the words "free and undistorted competition" from a list of the body&#39s core objectives for coming years and announced an 11 billion euro (15 billion dollars) stimulus package for France&#39s lukewarm economy that all but blew out of the water any chance of balancing France&#39s budget.

Most recently, there was the passage of a government measure in France&#39s National Assembly calling for a drastic overhaul of the country&#39s higher education system over the next five years.

On both the domestic and the international stage, Sarkozy has put forth the face of a newly vigorous French political culture while all the while managing to sidestep and co-opt many of his opponents, observers say.

Sarkozy&#39s victory over Parti Socialiste candidate Ségolène Royal in this spring&#39s voting marked the French left&#39s third straight electoral defeat in the presidential ballot. In a parliamentary poll weeks later, Sarkozy&#39s party, the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP), also gained a majority of seats in the National Assembly, though a smaller one than had been at first anticipated.

A chastening enough moment for the Socialists, one would imagine, but to increase the opposition&#39s disarray, Sarkozy has managed to successfully woo former Socialist stalwarts into his own sphere of influence, often leaving the party seemingly unsure of how to react.

His appointment as foreign minister of Bernard Kouchner, the co-founder of the humanitarian organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) and founder of the like-minded group Médecins du Monde (MDM), resulted in Kouchner&#39s expulsion from the Parti Socialiste, the party grandees ending their oft-tumultuous relationship with Kouchner in an unbecoming fit of pique.

In addition to Kouchner, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, a close associate of Parti Socialiste leader François Hollande, was tapped for the important post of Secretary of State for European Affairs. Eric Besson, formerly one of the Socialists chief economists, was also named to a state secretary position charged with evaluating France&#39s public policies. Besson had resigned from the Royal campaign reportedly over the party&#39s refusal to disclose how much some of the candidate&#39s proposed initiatives would cost.

In the latest development, Jack Lang, a veteran Socialist who had accused Sarkozy of "trickery" during the presidential election campaign, resigned from the Socialist&#39s leadership council (though not the party itself) and accepted an appointment on a committee tasked with modernising France&#39s institutions.

The personal intrigues of the Socialists – Ms. Royal and party leader Francois Hollande, are currently in the midst of a decidedly non-amicable romantic breakup – have only added to the speculation that a fight over party leadership will come up in the run-up to France&#39s 2012 presidential elections.

"The socialist party has two problems," says David Hanley, professor of European Studies at Cardiff University in Wales, who closely follows French politics. "They need to come up with a general ideological declaration that looks more electable than in the past, and that in turn is linked to coming up with a credible leader."

Though Royal appears unlikely to relinquish her leadership role (and may in fact make a bid for Hollande&#39s job, which he announced he will resign from at the next party congress), she is not alone in eyeing the top post. Socialist veteran Laurent Fabius (who served as prime minister in the Mitterrand government in the mid-1980s) and former finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn (currently the Sarkozy-supported nominee to head the International Monetary Fund) both ran against Royal for the party&#39s presidential nod and lost. Their appetite for a second bite at the apple, though, is said not to be sated.

Whether the Socialists can iron out their differences regarding some of their own more controversial proposals – including a sharp hike in France&#39s minimum wage and a more expansive application of provisions for a 35-hour working week – remains to be seen.

For Sarkozy&#39s part, reaching across ideological boundaries appears to be an attempt to re-brand himself after a bruising general elections where he was often accused of placating far-right and extreme nationalist political currents such as those of the Front national (FN) party of Jean-Marie Le Penn. The FN fared dismally in France&#39s presidential and legislative elections this year, with many saying those votes went to Sarkozy and the UMP due to often fiery rhetoric on immigration and crime.

"I think what Sarkozy is trying to do is a more consensual and less confrontational way of conducting politics while at the same time undermining the Socialist Party," says Florence Faucher-King, director of research at France&#39s Institut d&#39Etudes Politiques de Paris. "Sarkozy can also probably rely on a very strong and disciplined majority in parliament and therefore he can experiment.

"He&#39s been portrayed as a neo-liberal and on the reactionary right, but some of his policies since elected seem designed to say &#39don&#39t put me in the box so easily&#39."

Sarkozy&#39s appointment of Rachida Dati, the daughter of a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother, as minster of justice, was seen as a particularly adroit move. Dati, raised in humble circumstances in the town of Chalon-sur-Saone in the Burgundy region, was seen by some as indicative of Sarkozy&#39s larger attempt to shake up France&#39s historically white, male political establishment.

She is one of seven women in Sarkozy&#39s 15-member cabinet, a group that Sarkozy reduced by half from Chirac&#39s 31-member body.