Nicolas Sarkozy’s hectic 100 first days in power have earned him the nickname of “hyperpresident”, but can France’s new leader keep up the dizzying pace to deliver his promised reforms?
For three months, France’s new-look president has grabbed the spotlight: jetting to meet world leaders, micro-managing his government team, dropping by to comment on the Tour de France or coaching the French rugby team.
“You cannot switch on your TV set without seeing Sarkozy,” said Jacques Pilhan, a political communications professor. “His strategy is to saturate the media, a kind of carpet bombing. It’s a complete break with his predecessors.”
“Nicolas Sarkozy has turned his presidency into a reality TV show,” wrote the Marianne weekly. “It’s about an ordinary guy who’s been given extraordinary powers. His goal: to save an ageing country from decline.”
And whether posing with glamorous first lady Cecilia Sarkozy, jogging for the cameras or hosting a rock concert on France’s national holiday, everything about the 52-year-old marks a break with the days of Jacques Chirac.
Sarkozy’s government line-up — with half the posts going to women and ministers from the left and ethnic minorities — disarmed the opposition, winning him an approval rating of 65% among a French public eager for change.
For Dominique Moisi of the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), “Sarkozy has rallied the French people behind him with a government that embodies the new face of France.”
His choice of holiday spot, an elite US lakeside property an hour’s drive from the residence of his US counterpart, George Bush, tells the world “the days of Gaullist France are over. A page has been turned, and now is time for a new France, young and without hang-ups,” Moisi said.
The president has also defied French bourgeois convention by displaying a relaxed attitude towards money, from his public friendship with business moguls to a taste for luxury yachts and Italian suits.
Though mocked by part of the establishment — Marianne dubbed him “leader of the bling-bling right” — polls suggest ordinary French people are unfazed by the display of wealth.
But beyond the image revolution, how much has Sarkozy achieved so far?
On the diplomatic front, he notched up a big success early on by helping to break the deadlock on a European treaty: “Suddenly, France was no longer a source of problems but of solutions,” said Dominique Reynie of the Sciences Po political science institute.
But his refusal to commit to reining in France’s budget deficit, and his decision to send his wife to Tripoli for the final stage of EU negotiations on the release of the Bulgarian medics have strained ties with Europe.
“There is already a lot of tension between Sarkozy and the EU — he has really, really, irritated a lot of people,” said Moisi.
The Libyan case may come back to bite him, with the left-wing opposition demanding a parliamentary inquiry to determine whether Sarkozy traded the medics’ release for an arms deal with Tripoli.
“He took a huge risk,” said Reynie. “If at some point there were an attack in which Libya was involved, it would be catastrophic for him.”
On the domestic front, Sarkozy used a special session of Parliament to push through a first set of reforms — a package of tax breaks, a university reform, a crime Bill and a law to keep public transport running during strikes.
Other reforms are scheduled for after the summer, including a reform of employment laws, private pension funding, the health insurance deficit and French national debt.
Critics worry Sarkozy has started to renege on some of his promises, shelving plans to raise tuition fees in public universities and watering down a key pledge to cut civil service jobs, from 35 000 to 22 000 in 2008.
But Sarkozy himself appears in no doubt he can deliver the goods: he has warned his ministers — away on a brief summer break — that he intends to ramp up the work pace when they get back. — AFP