France’s Sarkozy — Champagne then reality

Sarko, as he is known, can claim a mandate. Indeed among the 86 percent nationwide turnout, he won 53 percent of the vote to Socialist opponent Segolene Royal’s 47 percent. Le Figaro headlined “A Brilliant Victory.” His UMP movement won the biggest electoral triumph for the center-right since the days of Charles de Gaulle. Yet this comfortable majority must now carry into next month’s crucial legislative elections for the French National Assembly where a majority can make or break his ambitious plans.

The Sarko story is inspiring. The son of a Hungarian immigrant, Sarkozy (52) did not attend the prestige schools and is not really part of the seemingly cloned political class, has nonetheless made it to the Elysee Palace (the White House) both to the chagrin of his former mentor Jacques Chirac and the distain of much of the leftwing. This energetic man must nonetheless confront a bitter Left and the sheer undertow of the status quo.

He pledged “The French have spoken and have chosen to make a break with the ideas, the customs and the behavior of the past.” He added boldly, “I am thus going to restore the status of work, authority, standards, respect and merit.” This conflicts with the Socialist view of the near sanctity of the welfare state.

Sarko’s success will be measured as much by his electoral majority but by the willingness of the minority to cooperate in his ambitious program for dynamic economic change. This willingness should not be taken as a given. The Dirigisme that of a strong State whose entrenched social and economic power goes well beyond politics, serves as a dead weight to change. Sarkozy himself is pulled between the conflicting impulses of traditional Gallic protectionism and market competitiveness.

The Socialists represented the status quo, that of a comfortable but bloated and highly taxed non-competitive social state whose standing was shrinking both inside European Union and globally. Sarko in the other hand while still wary of globalization, feels that France can and will prosper should his country use its traditional inventiveness and entrepreneurial talent for commerce. He must confront entrenched interests of radical leftwing and communist Labor unions as well as a disenchanted fringe who can use violence to hinder change.

Major social and economic change must come to the still combustible suburbs of many French cities, the banlieues which witnessed a serious flare-up of violence in late 2005. Here mostly Muslim youth face high unemployment, gangs and a climate of criminal coercion. Part of the problem resets with France’s suffocating Socialist labor laws and social practices which discourage hiring, nearly forbid firing and offer a state subsided alternative to work. Stated another way business won’t hire young job applicants and thus youth unemployment, along with illegal immigration soars.

While Sarko is compared in many ways to Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher, I would not be tempted to go quite so far; both Reagan and Thatcher worked in an Anglo-Saxon environment where social solidarity and work ethic are defined differently than in France. France is proudly not-Anglo Saxon and the mere mention of economic liberalism can cause Gallic sneers cross the political spectrum. Still let us not forget that laissez-faire economics and even the word entrepreneur are French terms. France will define the renovation of the economic scene less in Thatcherite terms and more using the many French icons of economics to spur new growth in the world’s sixth largest economy.

Still more than a few French leaders and their Prime Ministers have fallen on the sword of social and economic reform—demonstrations and orchestrated strikes can shut down the country. Wanting to reform and being able to carry it out are two separate tasks.

Importantly in the foreign policy arena, Sarkozy has unabashedly reaffirmed the close ties with the United States. Given the lingering trans-Atlantic strains between outgoing President Jacques Chirac and U.S. President George W. Bush, this is most welcome.

He stated “I want to issue an appeal to our American friends, to tell them that they can count on our friendship, which has been forged in the tragedies of history which we have faced together.” He added, “France will always be by their side when they need it, but I must also tell them that friendship means accepting that your friends may think differently.” Thus Sarkozy will not offer the USA carte blanche support in Iraq but shall clearly improve the tenor and the climate of the Franco/ American relationship in the UN Security Council in such issues like Lebanon, Iran and Sudan. .

The motto of the Sarkoy’s successful campaign must now hopefully apply to his new presidency, “Together all becomes possible.” Let’s hope so.