of France, here:-)

_{"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," retired Gen. John Sheehan, rejecting war czar post}

Suspense Hangs Over Election in France

Friday April 20, 2007 10:46 PM
By ANGELA CHARLTON

PARIS (AP) - It's been a presidential campaign unlike any France has seen, with rioting youth, a bikini-clad candidate and a national identity crisis, with many scattershot proposals but no central theme to unite the French.

On Sunday, it comes down to the 40 percent of voters who are keeping the nation guessing until the last minute of a captivating campaign with stakes for all of Europe. Voters narrow a field of 12 to two favorites who reach the runoff May 6, and only conservative, pro-American Nicolas Sarkozy seems certain to make that cut.

Suspense will hang heavy over the day of national reflection starting Friday at midnight, when all candidates and polling agencies fall silent after an often cacophonous campaign.

Polls suggest Sarkozy's challenger will be Socialist Segolene Royal, an unconventional leftist determined to be the first woman in France's top job.

But polls have proven wrong before, and with millions vacillating, lawmaker and horse breeder Francois Bayrou - who has been poaching voters from left and right - may leap ahead to be Sunday's surprise.

Another option looms: extreme-right nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen, ready to repeat his shock second-place finish in 2002's first round. That result deeply disturbed France and pushed voters to crush Le Pen by a record margin in the runoff and re-elect Jacques Chirac.

Chirac is not running this time, and leaves behind a nation looking for new direction, down on its economic fortunes, and still coping with fallout from youth riots in poor, immigrant areas in 2005.

The presidential contenders are still trying to fathom what voters want, and have seemed ready to do anything to court the fringes or the middle - or the opposite camp.

Sarkozy once sounded like a determined free-market reformer, ready to shake France up from top to bottom. But in recent months he tempered his talk about a ``rupture'' with the past and has watered down tax-cut plans. A lifelong anti-communist and son of a Hungarian immigrant, he even quoted a Marxist philosopher.

Royal once offended leftists by suggesting boot camp for wayward youth, then appeased them with a traditionally Socialist economic platform heavy on government programs. She reached to the patriotic right by calling for a French flag in every home. Then she gave an interview to Rottweiler News.

Voters are confused - yet more excited by politics than in years.

Voter registration is up, especially in some of the gritty suburbs that ring picturesque French cities. Riots raged in 2005 in these poor neighborhoods where mostly Muslim immigrants and their French-born children live in forgotten housing projects, and up to half the youth are jobless.

Across the country, jobs are voters' No. 1 concern, polls show. Recognizing that, the top candidates reached out to Airbus workers facing massive job cuts and railed against exorbitant executive pay.

But the campaign focus never stayed on jobs, instead switching to school choice, trashing the European Central Bank and taxing the rich, then to cracking down on youth rampaging in a Paris train station.

In recent weeks, the most enduring campaign theme was French identity.

MORE

Change Is on France's Presidential Menu

Saturday April 21, 2007 9:31 PM
By ANGELA CHARLTON

PARIS (AP) - Should they choose Nicolas Sarkozy, blunt, reformist and pro-American - and frightening to many French? Or Segolene Royal, the smiling, feminist mother-figure with a more cautious plan for France? Or will the scholarly farmer's son Francois Bayrou pull a surprise?

French voters, many vacillating until the end, take a crucial step toward shaping their future in presidential elections Sunday. They are paring down a field of 12 presidential candidates to two favorites who go to the May 6 final round.

With unusually dynamic front-runners and a suspense-filled campaign, the election is bringing in voters who sat out the 2002 election or cast protest votes for the extreme left and right.

The anti-immigrant nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen is still counting on big support, though, and hopes to repeat his shock 2002 second-place finish.

Turnout is likely to be high this time, with voter registration numbers up nationwide - especially in rundown immigrant neighborhoods wracked by rioting in 2005.

The successor to Jacques Chirac, who is stepping down after 12 years as president, must steer a nuclear power in an insecure world, revive a large and listless economy, invigorate a downbeat work force, incorporate alienated young Muslims.

Sarkozy, long leading in polls, is ready to build a new pro-American French foreign policy and proudly shook President Bush's hand last year. Royal, a Socialist, said she would never shake Bush's hand without letting him know what she thought of his policies first.

Restless French voters don't seem know themselves who is best-suited for the presidency, with about 40 percent of the electorate undecided. The result guarantees change - something the French both crave and fear.

more

April 22 (Bloomberg) -- Nicolas Sarkozy, the governing- party nominee, and Socialist Segolene Royal advanced to the French presidential-election runoff after securing the top two spots in today's first-round vote, initial projections showed.

In a field of 12 candidates, Sarkozy got about 30 percent and Royal, who would be the nation's first woman president, took about 26 percent, projections from polling companies Ipsos SA, Ifop, TNS-Sofres and CSA indicated. Turnout was about 85 percent, near a record.

By endorsing candidates from the two biggest parties, voters rebuffed appeals by self-styled centrist Francois Bayrou and anti-immigration leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. Sarkozy has courted Le Pen's voters, while former Socialist ministers have suggested Bayrou join Royal in an anti-Sarkozy alliance.

``She needs to get all the votes of the smaller left parties and also a majority of Bayrou supporters,'' Bernard Kouchner, a former Socialist health minister, said on France 2 television. ``Otherwise, Sarkozy will be the next president.''

Bayrou scored between 18 percent and 19 percent, while Le Pen took between 11 percent and 12 percent, the projections showed.

If the projections are confirmed, the race to succeed Jacques Chirac will feature a pair of first-time candidates for the first time since 1969. Sarkozy calls for lower taxes, more freedom for business and tougher immigration rules, while Royal promises to increase job security and introduce a ``new kind of politics'' with more citizen participation.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWy0iS8PUEJU&refer=worldwide

http://mauberly.blogspot.com/

Forbes:

According to exit polls released just after voting closed, ... the two will go into the second round on May 6.

BBC - BBC correspondents in Paris have been covering a dramatic election evening from the main candidates' headquarters, as results from Sunday's first round came in. Here are their reports so far. LINK

Also:
In quotes: Reaction to French poll

_{"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," retired Gen. John Sheehan, rejecting war czar post}

The Age - To be among the first to know the result of France's presidential election, you had to be ... surfing websites in Switzerland or Belgium, or watching British TV.

A French law that even officials admit is becoming outdated for the Internet age barred results from being published in France until polls closed Sunday night.

But by then, it was already an open secret abroad that Segolene Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy had qualified for the May 6 runoff. Some estimates popped up on the Web two hours before polls closed, when thousands of voters were still waiting in line.

Polling agencies released result projections early to journalists, but the law sets fines of up to 75,000 euros ($101,000) to those that publish them in France before polls close.

Last week, French bloggers complained that the gag order gives an unfair advantage to foreigners, and threatened to publish the results anyway. Sensing a possible rebellion, election officials wrote to them and server owners to remind them of the penalties.

"Bloggers told us, 'We know the results, but we're afraid of the penalties, so we're going to keep quiet,'" said Alain Fichelle, head administrator at the presidential election commission. "The law was very well respected in France."

Abroad, some sites that had early returns also posted messages saying they were bogged down by heavy visitor traffic.

Many of the early results were based on exit polls and turned out to be incorrect.

more at link

_{"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," retired Gen. John Sheehan, rejecting war czar post}

Sarkozy accused of pressuring media to prevent debate
The Guardian

Mr Sarkozy himself earlier told French TV that the only important debate in the race is the much-awaited televised head-to-head between him and Ms Royal next Wednesday. He dismissed the Royal-Bayrou plans for a debate as "a rather ridiculous tragicomedy" and said he would not debate with the centrist as he did not qualify for the run-off.
.
"We've never seen a World Cup final where it is the teams who came third and fourth that are demanding to play the final," he said. "That is called disputing people's choice. The presidential election is not the business of the political parties, it is the business of the French people."

2 May 2007 09:57

Royal vs Sarkozy: Battle for the 'Bayrouistes'

The cathedral city of Rouen is controlled by centrists who voted for François Bayrou in the first round of the French election. How they switch will determine who wins power. By John Lichfield
Published: 02 May 2007

Thomas, 29, looks like a typical Nicolas Sarkozy voter but he detests Nicolas Sarkozy. He is a young, neatly dressed executive, soon to be married. He wants France to "break out of our rigid, inward-looking way of doing things". He wants France to, "open its windows on the world".

On Sunday, Thomas says he faces an "agonising choice". He will either vote for the Socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal - "who does not impress me at all" - or he will cast a spoiled, or blank, ballot. And why not vote for M. Sarkozy, the front-running, centre-right candidate? The man who claims to represent a more modern, less rigid, outward-looking future for France?

"No. Never," Thomas says. "The man is dangerous. He is a French Berlusconi, or even worse, a French Mussolini. He will divide France and maybe tear us apart."

Welcome to Rouen, the largest city in France run by centrists and a key battleground in the second round of the presidential election on Sunday.

I met Thomas when he was watching a speedboat race on the river Seine. The event - like the city of Rouen itself, part- dynamic, part-picturesque - symbolises the choices France faces on Sunday. Old vs New is easy. But what is old and what is new? What is old, but worth preserving; and what is new, but menacing?

more

BBC - French newspapers pore over Wednesday's TV debate between Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal, but none sees either of the two candidates landing a knock-out blow.

Mr Sarkozy is judged to have given a strong workmanlike performance, to have asserted himself as "the boss", as one daily puts it.

Ms Royal is described as showing presidential qualities and fighting spirit, so that one paper asks: "What more does she have to prove?"
excerpts from papers at link

_{"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," retired Gen. John Sheehan, rejecting war czar post}

http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/5635/2/

The article is poor but the comments are telling :)

François Bayrou, the centrist candidate who gained an impressive 18 % of votes in the frist round but failed to qualify for next Sunday's run-off, nicely expressed his objections to the two main candidates. “I neither want France to be all-state a la Royal, nor do I want France to be cruel a la Sarkozy”. Insofar as the social sphere is concerned, it seems, his legitimate fear could have been put even more bluntly. Whether Royal or Sarkozy take power, France is likely to get social policies that are both cruel and all-state. What France really needs is a liberation of its social sphere from statist micro-management – but yesterday brought the definitive proof that, whatever the outcome of the elections, it will be headed in the opposite direction.
.
If the vote of most French people this Sunday is going to be directed against the candidate they dislike more, rather than for the candidate they agree with, they have good reasons for such a negative attitude. As a voter who is still undecided told me: “Whenever I hear one of the candidates on TV, I change my mind. Listening to Sarkozy, I want to vote Royal. And listening to Royal, I want to vote Sarkozy”.

BBC - During the first round of France's presidential election, Laurence Ribeaucourt had the surprise of her political life. A social worker and local councillor in a poor suburb north-east of Paris, she was monitoring the vote and the last place she expected to see the deprived youths she had cared for over the years was a polling station. "Almost all of them turned up - I had never seen such political commitment," Ms Ribeaucourt marvels.

"It was a moving moment. For most of them it was the first time they had voted. Some did not even know what booths were for." Many youths stayed behind to help count the ballots - as every French voter is entitled to do. "It took hours because they had to be taught everything. But it was worth it. They got an education in citizenship," she says.

Turnout at the polling station was 83% of registered voters. This matched the high national average.

But in one of France's worst sink estates - where usually only about 40% bother to vote - it was an unprecedented triumph. The result may have been exceptional - but it was replicated in other immigrant suburbs.

In nearby Clichy, one of the most deprived towns in France's poorest department, Seine-Saint-Denis, turnout also topped 80%. A year and a half ago, Clichy's teenagers launched a wave of riots that spread to banlieues (suburbs) across France. Today, local youths - most of whom have French citizenship - are eager to air their grievances by casting ballots, not burning cars.

"Electing a president is important," says first-time voter Alain Djoudjou, 18. He recalls that in the previous presidential election in 2002, far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen made it to the run-off largely through voter apathy. "Each votes counts," he says.

In Clichy - as in many other French suburbs - the vote was overwhelmingly in favour of Segolene Royal. There are several reasons why the Socialist candidate appeals to banlieue youths.

Unlike her second-round conservative rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, she did bother to come to Clichy during the campaign. She is seen as reassuring and tolerant, and has promised to "listen to our suburbs where the fire is still smouldering". Her pledge to create subsidised jobs strikes a chord in areas where unemployment is sky-high.

Concern about Mr Sarkozy, however, is far from universal in the banlieues. In Seine-Saint-Denis, more than a quarter of voters voted for the centre-right candidate. Many pensioners living near estates support Mr Sarkozy's firm stance on crime - and so do a large number of women residents.

Sonya Latrache, a 30-year-old mother of five from Clichy, says she finds Mr Sarkozy much more reassuring than his rival. "She does not speak with clarity and conviction; it's just hot air. She is nice but she will do nothing," she says.
more at link

_{"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," retired Gen. John Sheehan, rejecting war czar post}

Guardian UnlimitedSarko and Ségo head to head in a public debate for two and a half hours, watched by 20 million viewers, was a riveting piece of political theatre. And the flash point which encapsulated the entire debate was a fierce disagreement about Nicolas Sarkozy's policy on special needs education.

But what made the exchange so intriguing was its blatant display of Gallic machismo: Sarkozy used, several times, the classic patronising put-down routinely fired at any woman when she is forceful: "Calm down! Calm down!"

It's a reference back to an era when women who had opinions or were assertive with their views were dismissed as "irrational" or "hysterical". A woman was expected to be seen not heard. Now, the phrase is a clever tactic to use in a heated discussion with a woman (men very rarely say it to each other) to infuriate and disorientate - and thus throw a woman off her argument. "Calm down" is a very effective wind up. The woman is then not just defending her position in the argument, she is also having to defend her emotional stability. It's just one of many ways in which women get outmanoeuvred in debate, not because of the weakness of their argument, but because of the techniques of claiming and asserting authority are so culturally unfamiliar to women; they are bred into men from an early age, they are rooted out of women from an early age.

Because of this cultural unfamiliarity, men frequently find assertive women threatening. Watch the body language of this exchange: as Ségolène Royal lays out her case with fierce passion, her eyes blazing, her finger pointing, Sarkozy studiously begins shuffling papers, his head bowed, denying her eye contact. But these old tricks of undermining an opponent didn't work so Sarkozy got irritated, under pressure, he snapped and resorted to the put-down. The person who, at that point in the exchange, needed to calm down was, of course, the irritated Sarkozy.

But a battle-hardened Royal dealt with it brilliantly. She didn't alter her stride for a moment, and turned the put-down to her advantage. Yes, she was angry, she conceded but it was a righteous anger triggered by his policy on special needs, which had deprived children with disabilities of educational opportunities. She didn't "calm down" but sailed on as fiercely angry as ever. She used the opportunity to present herself as passionate, driven by real political ideals compared with his cold detached rationalism.

Sarkozy's old-fashioned bid to fall back on political stereotypes of the past, the conventions of male-dominated political debate, failed. Emotions are no longer a liability in politics, indeed they are an asset when voters want their politicians to come across like real human beings - above all, they want authenticity. The only sad part is that, while Royal may have helped shift the conventions of French politics and challenged the endemic machismo of so much public debate, it was a small victory in a bigger battle she still seems likely to lose on Sunday.

Sarko and Ségo head to head in a public debate for two and a half hours, watched by 20 million viewers, was a riveting piece of political theatre. And the flash point which encapsulated the entire debate was a fierce disagreement about Nicolas Sarkozy's policy on special needs education. But what made the exchange so intriguing was its blatant display of Gallic machismo: Sarkozy used, several times, the classic patronising put-down routinely fired at any woman when she is forceful: "Calm down! Calm down!"

It's a reference back to an era when women who had opinions or were assertive with their views were dismissed as "irrational" or "hysterical". A woman was expected to be seen not heard. Now, the phrase is a clever tactic to use in a heated discussion with a woman (men very rarely say it to each other) to infuriate and disorientate - and thus throw a woman off her argument. "Calm down" is a very effective wind up. The woman is then not just defending her position in the argument, she is also having to defend her emotional stability. It's just one of many ways in which women get outmanoeuvred in debate, not because of the weakness of their argument, but because of the techniques of claiming and asserting authority are so culturally unfamiliar to women; they are bred into men from an early age, they are rooted out of women from an early age.

Because of this cultural unfamiliarity, men frequently find assertive women threatening. Watch the body language of this exchange: as Ségolène Royal lays out her case with fierce passion, her eyes blazing, her finger pointing, Sarkozy studiously begins shuffling papers, his head bowed, denying her eye contact. But these old tricks of undermining an opponent didn't work so Sarkozy got irritated, under pressure, he snapped and resorted to the put-down. The person who, at that point in the exchange, needed to calm down was, of course, the irritated Sarkozy.

But a battle-hardened Royal dealt with it brilliantly. She didn't alter her stride for a moment, and turned the put-down to her advantage. Yes, she was angry, she conceded but it was a righteous anger triggered by his policy on special needs, which had deprived children with disabilities of educational opportunities. She didn't "calm down" but sailed on as fiercely angry as ever. She used the opportunity to present herself as passionate, driven by real political ideals compared with his cold detached rationalism.

Sarkozy's old-fashioned bid to fall back on political stereotypes of the past, the conventions of male-dominated political debate, failed. Emotions are no longer a liability in politics, indeed they are an asset when voters want their politicians to come across like real human beings - above all, they want authenticity. The only sad part is that, while Royal may have helped shift the conventions of French politics and challenged the endemic machismo of so much public debate, it was a small victory in a bigger battle she still seems likely to lose on Sunday.

_{"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," retired Gen. John Sheehan, rejecting war czar post}

afp - French presidential rivals Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal launched new attacks Thursday after neither could manage a knock-out blow in a heated television debate seen as a last chance to swing undecided voters.

Right winger Sarkozy and socialist Royal both claimed victory after the debate but an early poll indicated that the more than 20 million viewers who were engrossed by the fiery 150 minute event were more impressed by Sarkozy.

Sarkozy, who also leads in opinion polls ahead of Sunday's vote, said he was "suprised by the degree of aggressiveness" shown by his rival during the exchange, which was marked by Royal angrily accusing him of "political immorality."

Sarkozy said it showed "a form of intolerance."

"It is revealing of the reactions that can come from some quarters of the left who consider anyone who does not share their ideas as illegitimate," he added.

Royal, who wants to become France's first woman president, said Sarkozy "did not dare" repeat during the debate some of the accusations he had directed at her during the campaign.

He "reminds me of those children who kick and then cry out to make believe that it was their playmate who hit first," Royal told French radio.

A poll by the Opinion Way firm showed 53 percent found Sarkozy more convincing against 31 percent who thought the Socialist candidate better, but Royal's camp challenged the reliability of the survey.

"Who does this poll benefit?" said a statement from Jean-Louis Bianco and Francois Rebsamen, her two campaign directors, who suggested it was biased in favor of Sarkozy.

Commentators said Sarkozy scored points for keeping his cool while Royal won kudos for her combativeness in the face-off ahead of Sunday's vote.

The left-leaning Liberation newspaper said "Nicolas Sarkozy did not lose. But Segolene Royal won", arguing that she had shown her "combativeness."

"She won in terms of style, he won in terms of substance. They both held their ground," commented pollster Roland Cayrol.

"I would have to say that Sarkozy won," said veteran political commentator Alain Duhamel. "Not because he delivered a knock-out punch, but because he got more points."

The encounter could be decisive in determining the choice of nearly seven million voters who backed centrist Francois Bayrou in the first round on April 22, and who now hold the key to victory.

Bayrou was quoted in Le Monde as saying that Royal "had done rather well" in the debate and announced "I will not vote for Sarkozy" even though he did not explicitly throw his support behind Royal.

An Ipsos/Dell poll published Thursday showed Sarkozy would beat Royal in the second round by 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent.

_{"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," retired Gen. John Sheehan, rejecting war czar post}

or is anyone else impressed with Sarkozy's oratorical style? Maybe I don't agree with the substance, but the delivery is refreshing, particularly when comparing him to the US Current Occupant.

An acquaintance of mine who is French says that "everyone knows Sarkozy is going to win". Just one data point, but I tend to think she knows what she's talking about - though mind, that was before the debate.

Atypically French: Sarkozy's Bid to Be a Different Kind of President

The reviewer was quite taken with him.

Comment
Sarkozy plays the race card - and our establishment cheers

The French presidential favourite's pandering to the far right is indulged because of his pro-US stance and neo-liberalism

Martin Jacques
Friday May 4, 2007
The Guardian

It is a disturbing mark of our times that Ségolène Royal enjoys such little support from the media and politicians on this side of the Channel, notwithstanding her highly credible performance in Wednesday's TV debate. Nicolas Sarkozy seems to be their overwhelmingly preferred choice. Downing Street, unsurprisingly, is backing him: Tony Blair prefers the right as always - Silvio Berlusconi, José María Aznar, Angela Merkel, George Bush. David Cameron is supporting Sarkozy. So is the Economist. Matthew Parris, the Times columnist, is backing Royal, but only for the perverse reason that France is not yet ready for Sarkozy, but a Royal presidency will prepare the ground for his subsequent triumph.

Article continues
The dominant political consensus appears to be that only the right can sort out the political problems of a country. The preferred choice, thus, is either a party of the right or, as in the case of our soon-to-be-departed prime minister, a party of the left led by a leader of the right. In this judgment, two criteria reign supreme. First, is the party or candidate prepared to adopt Anglo-American neoliberal economic principles, or at least to move closer to them? And second, are they willing to adopt a more pro-American foreign policy?

It is no surprise that neoliberal economic thinking still predominates. New Labour enthusiastically embraced the central tenets of Thatcherism and has presided over an extremely long boom. It is rather harder to explain the continuing attachment to pro-Americanism at a time when US foreign policy stands deeply discredited. Two European nations emerged with credit from the Iraq disaster: France and Germany. Both had the courage to withstand the Bush administration and oppose the US-led invasion.

Who was right: Chirac and Schröder or Bush and Blair? Bush and Blair stand condemned by their own publics and face imminent political extinction. The ability of the French establishment, right and left, to think independently of the US for the past half-century is to be commended in contrast to the supine pro-Americanism that has long characterised British foreign policy thinking and which reached its nadir in 2003. In that same year, France did the world a service by leading the opposition within the UN and refusing to allow the body to be used as a tool of Anglo-American policy. While the US and Britain were committed to the idea of a unipolar world, Chirac upheld the principle of a multi-polar world. As the world changes before our eyes, you need only one partially sighted eye to see who was right. In contrast, New Labour's foreign policy has been a disaster. It is difficult to see how anyone can seriously advocate it as a model for other European countries.

More fundamentally, however, the choices facing European nations are simply not reducible to the two issues of neoliberal economics and a pro-US foreign policy. Such thinking displays a shrivelled view of what matters in the life of a nation, a reflection of how politics and political choice has been debased in the neoliberal era. In late 2005, Sarkozy, then interior minister, condemned the riots that took place in the suburbs, where those of African and Arab origin were concentrated, in calculatedly inflammatory terms, displaying zero sympathy for the plight of the ethnic minorities or any willingness to understand their grievances.

It was a defining political moment. At the centre of Sarkozy's appeal is race: he does not need to bang on about it because in that moment everyone, white and brown, knew where he stood. He staked a claim for the Le Pen vote. As a result of Sarkozy's action, he is hated in the suburbs. Under huge pressure and amid tight security, he eventually visited one such suburb. As François Bayrou, the centrist, third-party candidate, said: "Five years in the interior ministry and he can no longer enter parts of the French suburbs." The suburbs, in response, have registered and voted, politically mobilised for the first time and in no doubt as to what is at stake in this election.

France faces a very different choice in this election to the two preferred by the political consensus here. With an ethnic minority community of a similar size to that in Britain, France can seek either to include them on a new basis or demonise them and blame them for the country's problems - and build a new political majority with race at its core. The most dramatic expression of the former possibility was the multiracial French team that won the World Cup in 1998 and the extraordinary reception that it received in France. The polar opposite of that moment was Sarkozy's condemnation of the riots in November 2005 as purely a criminal matter to be repressed by brutal police action.

more

slightly off-topic, but what the hell... Royal's making a last-minute idiot of herself but at least she's not been seen duck-shooting...Meanwhile,a Brit refrain on the French "You're all just jealous" earlier post.....

Guardian Unlimited - My brother-in-law, who lives in Paris, told me last week that the televised debate between the French presidential rivals Segolene Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy, watched by 20 million people, appeared to electrify the city even more than last year's World Cup final, where France lost to Italy. 'Politics here is far more of a spectator sport and many even use sporting terminology to describe a particular verbal sally by one candidate or another,' he told me. 'The next day, when I dropped the kids off at school, all the parents were clustered around the gates, staying for hours discussing the great debate. The French love a verbal punch-up.

Twenty million viewers. And this on top of an 85 per cent turn-out in the first stage of an election process that finally ends this weekend. It is a far cry from Britain's recent democratic record, which has seen dwindling voter turn-outs over successive general elections. The relative lack of outrage at the impending coronation of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister is further evidence of a nation that has lost its appetite for the kind of all-out, raunchy, knock-down, democratic bunfights that we regularly see unfolding on the other side of the Channel.

Ms Royal refers warmly to Tony Blair's model of 'Third Way' politics, while Mr Sarkozy is a great admirer of British deregulation and devotion to free-market dynamics, but when it comes to public participation in the life of the nation, the French clearly have something to teach us. I have to admit to being increasingly irritated at the tendency of British commentators and politicians to present the election as France's last-chance saloon, for in most things that combine to make up a decent quality of life, from health to literacy, to gentility and solicitude for the vulnerable, France has us beaten.

Mr Sarkozy did not appear too convinced of this when he came to London three months ago to address expatriates who had fled high unemployment in France to find work in the City's booming financial-services sector. Referring to London as possessing a 'vitality' that Paris sorely lacked, Mr Sarkozy exhorted the crowd to return home - after casting their vote for him of course. 'France is still your country, even if you are disappointed by it,' he said, at the same time promising less regulation, more jobs and other free-market reforms.

The BBC's Crossing Continents took up the theme, broadcasting a documentary on how French graduates are flocking to the Square Mile. But the BBC should follow up its investigation with a comparison of how each country treats its citizens once they move from the freedom of youth to buying a house, getting from A to B, educating the children, staying healthy and growing old. For the fact is that British migration to France, at just over 40,000 a year, outstrips French migration to Britain.

Most of those who leave cite what they see as a declining British values system, the soaring cost of living and poor public services.

London might be rich in 'vitality', but its pleasures are far more accessible to the super rich and tax-favoured non-domiciled billionaires than for the rest of us who are priced out of the housing market and forced to commute from an ever-expanding hinterland on a transport system that is as expensive as it is inefficient.

I sometimes feel like apologising on behalf of my country to tourists at underground stations, rendered speechless by the cost of travelling a few stops on our glorious Northern Line.

Research presented to the Foreign Office by Montesquieu University, near Bordeaux, shows that many Britons moving to France come from English urban areas in a bid to substitute overcrowding, soaring crime rates and high prices with 'things people associate with a typical French village that they feel no longer exist in Britain'.
more at link

_{"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," retired Gen. John Sheehan, rejecting war czar post}

Another unashamedly trivial pre-election post....

Electric News - Whoever wins the French presidential election on Sunday, one thing's for sure. They won't be bringing a dutiful spouse to the official residence, the Elysee Palace. Either way, France is not going to have a first lady.

Both presidential candidates have unconventional partnerships.

Conservative candidate and election front-runner, Nicolas Sarkozy has been married to Cecilia, 49, who famously left him, briefly, for another man in 2005. It's a second marriage for both. She was previously wed to one of France's best-known television personalities.

Socialist candidate Segolene Royal, who might stand a chance of being the country's first female head of state, is not married to her partner and father of her four children, Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande.

And both Mrs Sarkozy and Mr Hollande have shown throughout the campaign that they have minds of their own.

Mrs Sarkozy has rarely been seen with her husband on the hustings.
But she suddenly reappeared during the first round of balloting, accompanying her husband to the polling station.

The New York Times reported that when she was asked how she envisioned her life in 10 years, she replied, 'In the United States, jogging in Central Park.' She told a popular French television show: 'I don't see myself as a first lady.That bores me. I am not politically correct.

Mr Hollande has gone one step further and made it clear to the French press that he does not intend moving into the Elysee Palace if his partner wins. He is also something of a political rival of Ms Royal, whose party endorsed her candidacy rather than his. Mr Hollande has said he will try to run in 2012 if Ms Royal loses this time

_{"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," retired Gen. John Sheehan, rejecting war czar post}

New York Times, Elaine Sciolino, May 6

She apocalyptically predicted that France would blow up if he were elected. He dismissively scoffed that she was too moody to run the country.

Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy ended their campaigns for the French presidency on Friday with biting personal attacks on each other, racing against an election eve ban on all polling and politicking that began at midnight. France’s 44.5 million voters may well need the break before going to the polls on Sunday.

In a closing IPSOS/Dell poll released just before midnight Friday, Mr. Sarkozy doubled his margin over Ms. Royal in the past week, leading 55 to 45.

France’s business community seemed so comfortable with a potential Sarkozy victory that the country’s main blue-chip stock index rose steadily over the past few days, approaching its historic high set in 2001. French government bonds also advanced on Friday.

===

In the last hours of her campaign, Ms. Royal played Joan of Arc, her heroine, vowing to save France from his brutality.

“The choice of Nicolas Sarkozy is a dangerous choice,” Ms. Royal said during a radio interview on Friday. She said she had a “responsibility to sound the alarm about the risks of this candidacy and the violence and brutality that will be spawned in the country. Everyone knows it but no one says it. It is a kind of taboo.”

On a competing radio station, Mr. Sarkozy felt confident enough to openly mock her, saying: “Ah, well. She wasn’t in a good mood this morning. It must be the polls.”

“She must feel that the ground is collapsing under her feet,” he added. “It’s a rather classic phenomenon. She tenses up. She stiffens. This time she’s showing her true nature. I feel a bit sorry for her.”

===

In her last appearance in the campaign, a rally in the city of Lorient on Friday afternoon, Ms. Royal came close to calling Mr. Sarkozy evil. She accused him of ceaselessly “paying homage to all that is dark in human nature,” urging voters to “turn toward the light.”

_{"Vanity, Vanity, all is Vanity."}

Sofia News Agency, May 6

Voters turned out en masse in the early hours of the run-offs of presidential elections in France, with 34,11% casting their ballots by noon local time on Sunday, daily Le Monde reported.

The figure reported surpasses even the number of people, who cast their votes in the same period of time at the first round two weeks ago.

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time in continental France and will close at 6 p.m. in rural regions and 8 p.m. in the big cities.

Close to 44,5 million French voters are eligible to cast their ballots in support of the two candidates, who survived the first round.

_{"Vanity, Vanity, all is Vanity."}

Sunday, the nation will choose either Ségolène Royal or Nicolas Sarkozy to be its new president.

Christian Science Monitor, By Robert Marquand, May 4

NEUILLY-sur-Seine AND ARGENTEUIL, FRANCE - It's a tale of two cities. On the eve of Sunday's presidential elections, it might be called a tale of two Frances.

Neuilly-sur-Seine is a wealthy town in northeast Paris that is solidly for conservative front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy. Nearby is the poor, largely immigrant suburb of Argenteuil, where Socialist Ségolène Royal is likely to win decisively.

The two are connected by a miles-long tunnel. But the metaphorical distance between them is far greater.

In Neuilly, residents say the election is mainly about changing the larded social-welfare system that allows new immigrants in France to get away with not working. People in Argenteuil say it is about an inability to find a real job in a France that is ever more costly to live in.

Divides in the two cities reflect deeper concerns and fears over expectations, identity, and security in a country where "What is France?" is the main question in this election. It brings two profound political strains to a head, says French historian Theodore Zeldin – "two different ideas about what politics is about. [Ms.] Royal sees it as about empathy, relationships, compassion. [Mr.] Sarkozy represents authority, competition, and hard work."

In a combative debate with Ms. Royal Wednesday, Sarkozy argued that France's main problem is "a moral crisis of work.... I don't believe in a welfare state, but in merit. Above all I believe in work."

_{"Vanity, Vanity, all is Vanity."}

The right's candidate could canter home in today's election - but that will do little to heal deep divisions still raging in France. As hope for Socialist Segolene Royal slips away, Jason Burke finds a nation polarised

The Observer, Jason Burke, May 6

The scruffy streets outside the campaign headquarters of Nicolas Sarkozy, the right-wing candidate apparently set to sweep to power in elections today, were calm. The multi-coloured, multi-ethnic market on the Rue Strasbourg Saint Denis nearby was not. Amid the shoppers hunting the perfect brie, warm pain de campagne or fresh okra, a lone activist broke the official ban on campaigning this weekend to distribute leaflets for Segolene Royal, the Socialist candidate, in Paris yesterday. 'It's more in hope than in anticipation,' she admitted glumly.

Royal has trailed Sarkozy in a hundred consecutive polls and is unlikely to make up the six to nine points that separate the two candidates. With 44 million Frenchmen and women heading for the polls, it looks very much as if Sarkozy's mix of promised radical change, economic liberalism and outright hard right populism has brought him victory - and possibly by a significant margin.

There is still a chance of an upset. Polls in France have been badly wrong before and 14 per cent of the voters, enough to swing the election, were apparently still undecided last night. But Sarkozy, 52, one of the most controversial and divisive figures of recent French political history, remains likely to replace outgoing President Jacques Chirac at the Elysee Palace. His slogan throughout months of campaigning has been 'Together, everything becomes possible'.

'That... is the least you can say,' muttered Loïc Delaurens, 29, a newspaper seller near the Place de la Republique in Paris, who voted Communist in the first round of voting two weeks ago. Sarkozy's team has already started working on the formation of a government and planning legislation, sources close to the former Interior Minister admitted. 'We'll get the parliamentary elections out of the way [in six weeks] and then really get moving,' said one member yesterday.

_{"Vanity, Vanity, all is Vanity."}

Times Online - Having tried everything else in her quest to stop the seemingly inexorable march of Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative candidate, Ségolène Royal played what she hoped was her trump card in the last hours of the battle for the French presidency: her femininity.

In a desperate attempt to woo undecided voters, Royal was reduced to emphasising the novelty of having a woman in the Elysée Palace who was more than just a first lady.

“I know there are those who thought – and who still think – is it really reasonable to choose a woman?” she said in her final campaign rally in the northern city of Lille on Thursday night. “Is France going to dare? I want to say: dare. Dare! You won’t regret it.”

Some called it a gamble, worrying that Royal’s use of her gender might transform her into a divisive “symbol of sexist revenge”, as Sylviane Agacinski, the author and psychologist, put it.

There was not much danger of that, however. It emerged that Royal was being let down at the ballot box not by centrists, Socialists or any other political bloc but by the one sector of the electorate that might have been expected to rally to her cause in droves: women.

She may have been misled by an Elle magazine opinion poll in January that suggested France was a haven of sisterly solidarity and put her comfortably ahead among women. This seemed to vindicate her approach of appealing for votes not as a woman but as the best-qualified candidate to replace President Jacques Chirac.

Things began to change last month, however, when other polls showed that women were falling under the spell of the diminutive Sarkozy, even if Cécilia, his errant wife, was rumoured to have abandoned him once more. continued at link

_{"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," retired Gen. John Sheehan, rejecting war czar post}

In France, both candidates declare the nation in crisis
Litany of problems as voters head to polls for runoff

Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times

Sunday, May 6, 2007

(05-06) 04:00 PDT Paris -- French politicians are masters of nuance who choose their words carefully, so it is striking that both candidates in today's presidential runoff election have talked a lot about a country in crisis.

"France is undergoing an unprecedented identity crisis," said Nicolas Sarkozy, the center-right candidate who is considered the front-runner. "Her model of integration has broken down, her social model is failing, her cohesion withers. A terrible doubt overcomes her. She has doubts about her values, her future, her identity, her vocation."

Both Sarkozy and his rival, Segolene Royal of the Socialist Party, cite a long list of specific woes: Low economic growth. High unemployment. A public sector that spends almost half its budget on salaries and pensions. Youth riots that revealed rage and alienation in the Muslim immigrant community. Declining influence in Europe and beyond.

Nonetheless, the "crisis" is not a catastrophe. France still has the world's sixth-biggest economy, a nuclear arsenal, a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council and a muscular diplomatic corps. The transportation, health, education and cultural infrastructures are in good shape. Most French families enjoy job security, generous vacations and retirement benefits.

The problem is that society has slid into what the French call immobilisme -- paralysis. Voters see Sarkozy and Royal as strong, youthful leaders who will finally confront it. They expect the new president to reassert French power abroad and find a way to make structural reforms at home while preserving the system's comforts.

"I think this is a moment of truth for France, and the reforms that it needs," said Michel Barnier, an adviser to Sarkozy. "France is historically, economically, geographically, culturally a central nation, but we have not known how to take advantage of that centrality. Our world has changed a lot and our diplomacy must adapt to the world."

As the campaign ended, it seemed likely that Sarkozy would lead the way into that changing world. Royal's chances for an upset rest partly on hopes that overconfidence, combined with a long holiday weekend, could reduce turnout for Sarkozy.

No matter who wins, analysts predict a new direction for foreign policy. Both leaders have taken interventionist, moralist stands on issues such as human rights abuses in Sudan, Chechnya and China. They are "equally tough" in opposing Iran's nuclear ambitions, political analyst Francois Heisbourg said, though neither has shown support for military action.

MORE

John Nichols | May 6

The Nation - During the campaign for president of France, Socialist Segolene Royal's supporters derided conservative front runner Nicolas Sarkozy as "an American neo-conservative with a French passport."

The line Royal and her backers pushed as she struggled to close the gap in the final sprint to catch up with Sarkozy was that the conservative would abandon France's traditional stance as an independent player on the international stage and make the nation little more than an American puppet-state.

The charge was always something of stretch. Sarkozy may have been more comfortable than Royal when it came to speaking of "friendship" with the U.S., but he always explained that friendship did not require "submission."

Sarkozy was never going to be George Bush's "poodle" in the way that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had been in the run up to the Iraq war. During the campaign, Sazkozy pointedly stated his opposition to the war, backed moves to withdraw French troops from Afghanistan, and allowed as how "the messianic side of Americans can be tiresome."

That said, Sarkozy was during the course of the campaign portrayed as the more Bush-friendly candidate for the presidency, a characterization that did him no good in a country where the American leader enjoys only a six percent approval rating.

No serious election observer doubted that it was Sarkozy's tough talk about modernizing the French economy and promoting law and order -- as well as Royal's missteps early in the campaign -- that gave the conservative the lead. Still, Sarkozy's 53-47 win over Royal in Sunday's French voting was always going to be seen as something of a victory for Bush. The White House rushed to congratulate the winner, as presidential aides and appointees spoke up about how the administration really looks forward to working with the man who will replace outgoing French President Jacques Chirac, a frequent thorn in Bush's side.

But Sarkozy, who ran with Chirac's support, was not playing the poodle role on the night of his electoral triumph.

Conscious of fears that he would be unwilling to stand up to an American president who was making mistakes, the French president-elect delivered an acceptance speech that promised friendship to the United States but rejected acquiescence.

Speaking of his desire for good relations with the U.S., Sarkozy did not hesitate to prod Washington on an issue -- after Iraq -- has put the Bush White House most at odds with the world. While the Bush and his allies have long attempted to deny the seriousness of the threat posed by global warming, and in so doing have undermined international efforts to address climate change, the French president-elect said, "I want to tell them [American leaders] as well that friendship is accepting that one's friends can act differently, and that a great nation like the United States has the duty to not obstruct the fight against global warming but on the contrary to take the lead in this struggle because what is at stake is the future of all humanity."
continued at link

_{"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," retired Gen. John Sheehan, rejecting war czar post}

They too demand, like the Australians, British and Americans, to have a leader of which they can be vaguely embarrassed.

Alright a quick bit from that notorious conspiracy guy Wayne Madsen:

May 7, 2007 -- Nicolas Sarkozy (whom our French intelligence sources have referred to a the "little French Hitler") will govern France with the help of two Silvio Berlusconi- and Rupert Murdoch-like billionaire neo-con French media moguls, Martin Bouygues and Arnaud Lagardere. Bouygues owns the TF1 television channel, which can be expected to act as Sarkozy's own version of the U.S. Republican Party's Fox News Channel. Lagardere's media group owns the Europe 1 radio network, Paris Match, several French regional newspapers, and is a major stakeholder in the French television network Canal+. Sarkozy is known to censor any news reports that are unfavorable to him and pressure publishers and editors to fire wayward journalists. With much of the French media in his pocket, expect the Franco-Hungarian Sarkozy to institute a new era of Janos Kadarist-style censorship in his nation.

The French election, from the start, has been plagued by election fraud -- bogus polling data, false exit polls, and electronic voting machine and machine counting irregularities were hallmarks of the first presidential election round. ES&S's I-Votronic machines were used in both elections across France. Only Sarkozy's party was supportive of the machines, with all the other political parties calling for a moratorium on their use. Turnout in the French election was 85 percent. With large turnouts historically favoring the left in France, the exit polling and actual polling were at odds with the turnout -- an indication of massive election fraud.

Similar polling irregularities were experienced in recent elections in Scotland, Wales, and England. In Scotland, 100,000 ballots, thought to mostly be cast for the pro-independence Scottish National Party, were declared "spoiled" in Scotland's election. That "glitch" cost the Scottish Nationalists a larger majority in the Scottish Parliament. Irregularities in Wales and England similarly affected larger margins for Welsh and Cornish nationalists. As the Bretons and Corsicans will soon discover with Sarkozy, regional nationalism is anathema to the globalist neo-con agenda, particularly the international bankers who want strong centralized control and minimal devolution of power to local and regional governments.

The electoral malfeasance of neo-cons in manipulating elections in France, Britain, Canada, the United States, Italy, Australia, Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico, and other countries will remain a problem until the people, acting through the power of progressive, anti-globalist, and anti-capitalist governments, seize control, via whatever means necessary, of the media, the voting and vote counting process, and the opinion polling mechanisms.
--
Hongpong.com

Monday, May 07, 2007

Can Sarkozy Uphold the Values of 1789?

Rightwing nationalist Nicolas Sarkozy, is the next president of France. He campaigned on an anti-immigrant platform that veered uncomfortably close to that of Jean-Marie LePen, though he did make a provision for affirmative action. Sarkozy will try to break the unions, and his view of the immigrants who rioted in 2005 over joblessness as "scum" bodes ill for social peace. An Arab blogger's view of Sarkozy's police tactics is eye-opening.

snip

In the first round, only 1 percent of Muslim voters embraced Sarkozy, with 64 percent voting for Segolene Royal. That French Muslims supported a woman socialist candidate so overwhelmingly shows how few of them have a fundamentalist mindset. Most French Muslim youth are relatively remote from the culture of their grandparents and the rioting was economic in character.

In his acceptance speech, Sarkozy said he would try to be president of all the French. I hope he meant to include the workers and immigrants. If not, his tenure could be turbulent.

Europe News
France sees second night of unrest after Sarkozy's election

May 8, 2007, 5:59 GMT

Paris - France saw violent clashes for the second night in a row amid demonstrations against conservative Nicolas Sarkozy's win in Sunday's presidential election.

Cars and trash containers were set on fire in a number of cities overnight and primarily young protesters threw rocks and bottles at police, police said early Tuesday.

More than 100 demonstrators were arrested in Paris alone. Unrest was also reported in Lyon, Lille, Toulouse, Nantes and Rennes.

About 500 leftist opponents of Sarkozy assembled on Paris' Bastille Square late Monday. Police moved in when shop windows began to be smashed and telephone booths demolished.

Police said they engaged with small groups of protestors around the square until well past midnight. Police said the demonstrators had attacked them with projectiles but no officers were hurt.

more

Sarkozy's reforms aimed at reducing unemployment rate

AFP, Nathaniel Harrison, May 8

PARIS - The people of France, for decades protected by a state-managed economic cocoon, now face a "rupture" with the past under a new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who wants them to work harder, produce more and take charge of their own lives.

With his convincing defeat of the Socialist Segolene Royal, Mr. Sarkozy is seen as having a mandate to sweep away structural constraints in the economy he says have saddled the country with high unemployment, tepid growth and social discontent.

He has promised "a clean break" -- even a "rupture" -- with past practice through tax cuts and no-nonsense work incentives.

The Times of London described his victory in an editorial as "the most important political change in France for a generation" and warned French citizens to brace themselves for "the Gallic equivalent of Thatcherism."

The Independent, John Lichfield, May 8

PARIS - France's president-elect, Nicolas Sarkozy, vanished yesterday. After being inescapable for months, and after winning a crushing victory in Sunday's presidential election, M. Sarkozy departed for a three-day retreat in an undisclosed location. Some reports suggested that he had gone to a monastery. If so, the future president had much to ponder - and to pray for.

M. Sarkozy, 52, has promised a 100-day blitz of negotiation and legislation to push through the main points of his programme to cut taxes, curb union rights and encourage France to work harder. He is expected to announce his choice for Prime Minister soon after he formally replaces President Jacques Chirac in the Elysée Palace on Wednesday next week. The most likely candidate is the former social affairs minister, François Fillon, 53.

Scattered, violent protests against M. Sarkozy's election victory continued yesterday but seemed unlikely to develop into outright confrontation with the authorities. Hundreds of cars were burnt in poor multiracial suburbs on Sunday night. Anti-Sarkozy protesters clashed with police in cities across France. Groups of students attempted, without success, to close down a half-dozen lycées in Paris yesterday morning. M. Sarkozy fought a campaign which was highly-charged with right-wing rhetoric. The protesters accuse him of being an "ultra-capitalist", who will unleash police repression in the multiracial suburbs.

The president-elect says that "for me there is only one France". He said that his victory over the Socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal - by 53.06 per cent to 46.94 per cent - was not the "victory of one France over another". That is not the way M. Sarkozy's triumph is seen in the poor suburbs surrounding Paris. "Young people here are in a panic," said Mohamed, a 22-year-old student from the disadvantaged town of Trappe. "They are convinced there will be expulsions, cuts in welfare and a tougher line by the police."

President-elect Sarkozy has an ambitious foreign agenda, in addition to planned reforms at home.

Christian Science Monitor, By Robert Marquand, May 8

PARIS - It took French President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy about 30 minutes to change the scope of a yearlong election campaign that rarely strayed from domestic issues to reveal an ambitious foreign agenda.

It is a France reengaging Europe, friendlier with the US, stressing human rights, and creating a "Mediterranean Union" that would help address African immigration and development issues.

"France is back in Europe," Mr. Sarkozy said at the outset of a victory speech Sunday, addressing his "European partners" after winning a clear-cut victory over Socialist Ségolène Royal.

The hard-fought election, split 53.1 to 46.9 percent with 85 percent voter turnout, appears to give a mandate to the increasingly powerful right side of the French political spectrum.

Since France voted "no" on a more unified Europe in 2005, efforts to create a stronger European Union have awaited the May 6 French election. Sarkozy plans to help the EU strengthen its institutional identity as one of his first initiatives.

Olivier Roy | May 15

NYT - NICOLAS SARKOZY, who will take over the presidency from Jacques Chirac tomorrow, has often been dubbed by the left in France as “Sarkozy the American.” His victory has also been greeted in American conservative circles as an unprecedented break with the “French disease” (welfare state, 35-hour workweek, national arrogance, anti-Americanism, etc.).

Certainly, Mr. Sarkozy is pro-American and anti-bureaucracy and has no problem with hobnobbing with the rich, as shown by his luxury (and very short) vacation on a billionaire’s yacht in Malta after his election. He also repeatedly claims that he will make a clear break with Mr. Chirac’s policies.

But feelings and gestures don’t make a policy. And there is no neoconservative or Thatcherist revolution in sight for France.

Mr. Sarkozy may present himself as what the French call a “libéral” on the economy — that is, someone who favors a free market — but when he was the finance minister, the taxes and social charges paid by business did not decline, he blocked foreign takeover bids and he bailed out an ailing French company, Alstom, with taxpayer money. As president, he will try to give more flexibility to business, but without dismantling the minimum wage; to give more autonomy to the universities, but without privatizing them; to redefine the welfare state, but without eliminating it; to decrease the power of the unions, but without snubbing them.

This does not amount to a revolution but to a continuation of the French economy’s bumpy path since 1993, when Édouard Balladur became prime minister and tried to push a libéral economic agenda. The general deregulation that American conservatives envision isn’t in the works. So far, European Union rules have been much more important in fostering a liberalization of the French economy than any French politician.

continued at link

_{"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," retired Gen. John Sheehan, rejecting war czar post}

Sarkozy names women to half of Cabinet posts
French council trimmed to 15
By Molly Moore, Washington Post | May 19, 2007

PARIS -- President Nicolas Sarkozy of France named women to nearly half of his Cabinet positions yesterday and designated the founder of Doctors Without Borders, a Socialist, as his foreign minister.

The appointments reflect Sarkozy's pledge to diversify the top echelons of the French government with greater numbers of women and representatives from opposition political parties. More than half of the Cabinet members are familiar political faces who had served as ministers in President Jacques Chirac's government.

The 15-member Cabinet is half the size of previous governments, part of Sarkozy's efforts to streamline the bloated French bureaucracy.

The new Cabinet held its first meeting within hours of being named, in keeping with the image that Sarkozy plans to bring more dynamism to a government that had become sluggish and unresponsive to the public.

Minutes after naming his close friend and political colleague François Fillon as prime minister on Thursday, the two men went jogging, with bodyguards following closely, in the sprawling Bois de Boulogne park.

The most controversial of Sarkozy's appointments is Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, 67, a popular politician and the founder of Doctors Without Borders, the nonprofit organization that received a Nobel prize and pioneered sending medical workers into the most dangerous and destitute reaches of the globe.

Members of Kouchner's Socialist Party branded him a traitor for taking a ministerial position under Sarkozy, who beat Socialist Ségolène Royal for the presidency.

Socialist Party spokesman Benoit Hamon said the party will expel Kouchner. "He joined a government of the right, the government that we are fighting," Hamon said. "There's nothing more for him inside our party."

Sarkozy named as defense minister Herve Morin, a centrist who was a key adviser to failed presidential candidate François Bayrou.

Michèle Alliot-Marie, Chirac's defense minister, was made interior minister in charge of security and counter terrorism.

Rachida Dati, a 41-year-old lawyer whose parents immigrated to France from Morocco and Algeria, will serve as justice minister. Women were also chosen as ministers of education, culture, health and sports, and agriculture.

Sarkozy enlisted one of his closest political friends, Brice Hortefeux, to take over a new ministry of immigration, integration, and national identity.

When Sarkozy announced his plans to create the position, opponents and fellow party members criticized a ministry of national identity as too evocative of France's experiences with the Vichy government, which did the bidding of the Nazis in deporting Jews during World War II.

Alain Juppé, a former prime minister, became the head of a new ministry of environment, sustainable development, transportation, and energy.

The appointment of Dati, a woman with North African roots, as justice minister offered the symbolism that the law will be colorblind in a nation coping with the fallout from riots across immigrant-heavy neighborhoods two years ago.

bit more

Kerstin Gehmlich | Paris | May 21

Reuters - France's immigration and national identity minister promised a humane approach to his duties on Monday, but historians and rights groups said the new portfolio was shameful and risked fanning xenophobia.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, a law and order hardliner, campaigned strongly on the theme of national identity during his election campaign and promoted loyal ally Brice Hortefeux to head the controversial ministry.

The new ministry will group responsibilities for all aspects of immigration, the integration of new arrivals as well as ties with developing countries. It will also promote selective immigration that favours qualified workers.

"My policies will be dictated by firmness and humanity at the same time," Hortefeux told Europe 1 radio on Monday, saying he would not be driven by dogmatism.

Some 25,000 illegal immigrants would be expelled in 2007, Hortefeux said, estimating that between 200,000 and 400,000 foreigners without residency papers lived in the country.

"Their number has started to fall," he said.

Immigration is a sensitive issue in France. A survey conducted ahead of Sarkozy's election on May 6 showed most French people backed his ministry idea.

But during two stints as interior minister in the past five years, Sarkozy triggered large protests when he tightened immigration laws and ordered the expulsion of thousands of illegal immigrants during two stints as interior minister over the last fi