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Nicolas Sarkozy is France's new president
 Nicolas Sarkozy is France's new president - Mai 2007
Who Is He? (with video) l Results Of The Presidential Elections l What to expect (with video) l And??? l Stronger President l External Links
(The video below is in English) Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sárközy de Nagy-Bocsa’s: father is Hungarian and his mother had a Greek (Jewish) father, making him a personification of the EU’s essence, which is the free movement of people, as well as goods, capital and services. Yet, as often with immigrants, Sarko (that's his nickname) is more Catholic than the Pope! Nicolas Sarkozy believes in a strong French state and is a loud cheerleader for French industry: rescuing power company Alstom with public money and campaigning on national pride in coalmines he knows well are past, not future. Riding in on his new generation mandate, Nicolas Sarkozy represents the best chance for a Thatcher-like economic shock therapy that made its namesake a deeply divisive and unpopular figure, but laid the foundations of sustained economic success. Back to top.
In France, the French Presidential election saw Mr Nicolas Sarkozy score more than 53% of the vote, with Mme Ségolène Royal at 47%. With a massive 85% of voters turning out, M Sarkozy is seen as been given a solid mandate to introduce change. His win was also the first time since 1969 that a candidate from the outgoing President's party has gone onto win a Presidential election. Nicolas Sarkozy, 52, takes office on May 17 the day after the incumbent President, Jacques Chirac, leaves the Elysée Palace. The Presidential term lasts for five years. Nicolas Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, has promised fast and immediate change - although his ability to implement his reforms is dependent on the UMP winning a majority in the legislative assembly elections, held in June. It is expected that some parts of the French system, including trade unions, public service workers and the Left – who loathe Sarkozy, demonising him as 'a dangerous demagogue' and 'apprentice dictator' during the election campaign – will be highly resistant to the changes he wants to implement. France may be in for a prolonged period of industrial upheaval. However, Nicolas Sarkozy is said to be preparing for any strikes with measures that force state workers to provide a minimum level of public service during strikes. Back to top.
Employment: making 35 hours a week a minimum but not maximum amount of time allowed to be worked; reduce unemployment, currently one of the highest in Europe at 8.3%, to below 5% by 2012. Taxes: in keeping with the his overhaul of the 35-hour week, removing taxes and social charges (cotisations in French) from income earned when working more than 35 hours; abolish inheritance tax for everyone bar the top 10% of France's richest people; and cut income tax for all. Civil Service: he will replace only one in two retirees from the civil service – there are currently five million employees who together account for almost half the state budget. Labour law: as well as the introduction of measures that force state workers who work in monopoly companies to provide a minimum level of public service during strikes, for a strike lasting more than one week, there will have to be a secret ballot of workers. Pensions: reform of the state pension system – currently people can retire at 55 years old with a full state pension. Sarkozy wants to raise the age limit. Education: maximum class size of 15 in poor areas. A 'Marshall Plan' to provide training for unskilled youth, especially in the 'banlieues' (suburbs in English); a civic national service for school-leavers to replace the obligatory national service that was abolished 10 years ago. Law and order: the cutting of child allowances to delinquents' families; repeat offender aged 16-18 to be tried and adults; and minimum sentences for repeat offenders. US-style affirmative action to tackle discrimination against ethnic minorities. Immigration: no blanket amnesty for France's estimated 200,000-400,000 illegal immigrants; the introduction of a ministry for immigration and national identity to implement a skills-based selection for legal migrants, tighter rules on rules of entry for family members, and the obligation to speak and read French. Environment: cut VAT on green products and services. Keep nuclear power at its current level. Housing: the sale of 40,000 council homes to tenants. Europe: replaced the abandoned EU Constitution with a scaled-down treaty and a refusal to allow Turkey into the EU.
Sarkozy’s first official campaign stop was London, where he urged his countryfolks to come home and transform France. The second thing France needs is a reconciliation with a Europe which was made in its own image, but which has slipped remorselessly beyond its control, the main reason for the 2005 "no" referendum vote. Europe’s "cult of competition," its ever-increasing use of English and its opening of doors to the new member states (who can forget Chirac calling them "infantile" in 2003), set alongside a bigger, more independent Germany, have led to a deep estrangement. Europe is not a big issue in the French elections, but Sarkozy has a bold vision that would fit neatly into a powerful Brown-Sarkozy-Merkel-Barroso liberal axis. He had an early try on the constitution question (the mini-Treaty) and was the first to point the way to parliamentary ratification, now being echoed by Blair and others. Back to top.
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