Repères 11/05/07 - Sarkozy and the World

Sarkozy and the World
Council on Foreign Relations May 7, 2007

"...In the United States, at least, the optimism that Sarkozy somehow will reinvigorate French foreign policy and vastly improve ties with Washington appears to be based on pundits’ estimates of his character rather than any concrete policy changes in the offing..."


Lire également des opinions néoconservatrices (!) :

The Sarkozy Revolution: Five Recommendations for the New French President
by Nile Gardiner, Ph.D. Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, May 9, 2007

"The victory of Nicolas Sarkozy in the French presidential election presents the best hope for French political reform since the publication of Alexis De Tocqueville's L'Ancien Régime in 1856. Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, has vowed to transform France from a backward-looking, outdated, rapidly declining country into a modern, globally focused nation. In almost messianic terms, he has pledged a break with the past and a new era for the French people.

Arrayed against him, however, is a powerful coalition of vested interests, from the communist-dominated trade unions to the elites who dominate the civil service, not least the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Quai d'Orsay. In addition, the new French president must contend with long-term civil unrest in the immigrant-dominated suburbs of France's major cities, where mobs of largely Muslim youths are already rioting against the new regime. Out of all European Union countries, France is by far the most resistant to change, with the deepest entrenched vestiges of socialism and hostility to the free market.

If Sarkozy is serious about transforming France, he will have to lead a Herculean effort. On the domestic front, he must confront the biggest elephants in the room: the 35-hour workweek and job protection laws that have contributed to a 20 percent unemployment rate among young people. In Europe, Mr. Sarkozy must show that he is serious about reforming the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the largest protectionist racket in the world, and bring an end to French bullying within the EU. On the world stage, France must become serious about confronting the biggest threats of the day, from the rise of a nuclear-armed Iran to global terrorism. It is in the U.S. interest to have a France that is firmly anchored to the transatlantic alliance and looks to Washington and London, not just Brussels, to advance its foreign policy agenda..."


Au Revoir
by Laurent Murawiec, From the May 8, 2007 National Review Online

"Good news for the French, good news for us: Nicolas Sarkozy’s impressive victory in this weekend’s French presidential election sounds the death knell of key components of French political exceptionalism.

GAULLISM AT HOME…
First, the Gaullist exception in both the domestic field and in international affairs has finally been done away with..."

"…AND ABROAD
In international affairs, de Gaulle repeatedly broke ranks with Atlantic solidarity; he tried to sunder NATO and flirted with Moscow. De Gaulle foolishly France, with him at it head, as the leader of an international “third way” in which the “non-aligned” and the Soviet bloc would join him. The Islamic world, Latin America, and Asia would heed his anti-American call. De Gaulle’s successors kept up that tradition, though with partial exceptions: President Pompidou improved relations with Richard Nixon somewhat; Socialist president Mitterrand supported Reagan’s deployment of the “euro-missiles” (but furiously opposed missile defense).

Jacques Chirac turned out to be the most virulent hater of America, ready to go to almost any length to harm the U.S.

Sarkozy’s very first statement upon being elected pointedly emphasized a strong alliance with and friendliness toward the United States. This is an enormous change: For the first time since the strongly Atlantic-oriented Fourth Republic, Paris will not be anti-American. This does not mean that Sarkozy’s France will be “aligned” with, or a mere appendix of, American diplomacy — in his speech, Sarkozy first underlined that he was “a good European” and favorable to a stronger Europe. Rather, it means that Sarkozy’s France will stop trying to berate, harass, and scoff at the United States at every opportunity; that Sarkozy’s France will stop trying to lead a worldwide anti-American coalition, as was the case under the bumbling but tenaciously noxious stewardship of Jacques Chirac. The professional America-loathers at the French foreign ministry, the Quai d’Orsay, will have to watch their step. Israel will be able to count on a more level playing field and less Islamophilia. Washington can do business with Nicolas Sarkozy, whereas Chirac only wanted to do injury to America. The European Union can again envision a center-right French-German leadership that is not intent on pitting the EU against America..."