MaximsNews Network
By Mehri Madarshahi
Last Sunday, in a major electoral test, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling party, Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) scored poorly in the first round of municipal elections that were held in some 36,000 city, town and village councils and half of the 96 “départements” in France.
The relatively poor results for UMP – despite a high rate of voter participation – has been interpreted as a “sanctioning” of Sarokozy’s reign, a sign of disapproval by the French of the slow pace of economic reforms – the highlight of Mr Sarkozy’s pre-election focus and promises.
These municipal elections – though local in nature- injected renewed hope to the Socialist Party as it is poised to take control of major cities after next Sunday’s run-off elections. Segolene Royal, who was defeated by Sarkozy for the Presidency in 2007 elections, said that “France was punishing him for the rising cost of living and all other unfulfilled promises”.
President Sarkozy’s popularity ratings have plummeted since the beginning of this year to a little over 30 percent in recent weeks. According to these polls, older and poorer voters are frustrated with his failure to boost living standards and his showbiz lifestyle. “By leaping from one dossier to another, from Disneyland to the Vatican, from the world of politics to the high life, he seems to have no concern for the reputation of his office,” said Jean-Pierre Le Goff, the author of a newly published book on the “Rootlessness of modern France” (La France morcelée).
Sweeping comfortably to the Elysee some 10 months ago (precisely on 16 May 2007) when he was invested with the Grand Master’s Collar (symbol of his role as Grand Master of the Legion d’Honneur) and the nuclear codes of the French nuclear arsenal, Sarkozy looked triumphant and popular as President of the French Republic. His approach of introducing “rupture” with past practices promised to inject a new dynamism into the Fifth Republic. At that time, he pledged to run one of the most accountable administrations in French history; to reinvent France for the 21st century; to be the “President of purchasing power” so as to make France “work more to earn more” and to make France the “fastest growing country in the EU”.
The first punch to the French secular was thrown at his inaugural at the Cascade of the “Bois de Boulogne” when he paid homage to the French resistance in honoring Guy Moquet in Paris demanding that “all high-school students read his (Moquet’s) last letter to his parents”. This suggestion was seen by the Left as a “cynical form of rewriting French history by the right.”
Following the Presidential election, scattered protests against Sarkozy continued for a while in the suburbs of Paris (les banlieus), but they did not lead to an outright confrontation with the authorities. Hundreds of cars were burnt throughout France and reports of clashes between anti-Sarkozy protesters and police in cities across France were wide-spread, but having been an effectiveMinister of the Interior, Mr Sarkozy managed to instill calm by deploying massive police forces.
Having appointed a new Government, led by Francois Fillon and several “ruptured” Socialist Ministers, e.g. the Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner or Jean-Marie Bockel, he called parliamentary election and won a clear majority in June/July 2007. This emboldened him to tackle the most sensitive and politically contentious issue of the 35 hours work week legislation, to propose tax relief to the rich and to curb union rights. A symphony of change for some – and pain, if not provocation for others…
The real confrontation came into the open when he proposed that transport workers must provide a minimum service during work stoppages that may exceed 8 days. He also sought to curtail generous early retirement arrangements which granted full pension rights to the strongly unionized transport and railroad workers retiring in their mid-50s.
Soon after, massive and protracted strikes were called by the railroad workers unions which brought cities and businesses to a standstill. Yet, the President stayed his course and decided not to engage in any negotiations and the population had to learn coping with the inconvenience of the situation.
Sarkozy’s inflexibility – or steadfastness – caused him a loss of popularity; his opponents accused him of bullying or even anti-democratic tactics. The transport worker strike extended to more than a few weeks and tentative arrangements had to be secured with union leaders just before the Holiday Season.
President Sarkozy also took up a potentially damaging battle with the Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionel). This was related to a new law allowing dangerous criminals to be kept in custody indefinitely. The Council struck from the new law the inclusion of cases prior to the approval of the law. The President disagreed and asked for ways to circumvent the ruling. This was considered an unprecedented challenge and trace-passing by a political figure into the authority of an important legal body.
In a series of sweeping “visionary” statements, the President focused on France’s relations and defense agreements with Africa; on religion and social values; and on the need for a new “politics of civilization”. Many quarters considered these initiatives disturbing, confusing and felt that they represented activism to mask a lack of progress in improving the French economy and generating new jobs.
French-German relations also suffered and relations between French and German leaders recently have hit a low. A Franco-German summit in Bavaria was at the last moment postponed for three months because of Sarkozy’s “crowded schedule”. German Chancellor Merkel was irked by the President’s style and headlong attempts without consultations to create a Mediterranean union, whichBerlin feared would divide and weaken the EU, duplicate the Barcelona process and sideline Israel.
The so called “Soap Opera-Sarko style of Presidency” has so far been unprecedented in the French history. Some feel he is often mirroring President Bush’s style and orientation, particularly in his “moral thinking, inspired by religious convictions”. For that he won praise of American right-wing press, but at the same time, this has caused reservations, if not resistance among French intellectuals and the educated class.
Some accuse the President of trying to nurture a celebrity image or to become a look-alike of Hollywood stars by wearing dark eyeglasses and leather jackets, enjoying yachts or private planes of French business tycoons, making vacations in retreat homes of super-rich friends, and of course of dating Carla in Disneyland and then openly exhibiting his love affair in plain view for all to see.
The climax was reached when he presented a new First Lady to French public, in an uncharacteristically low-key ceremony – just a few weeks after his divorce from his second wife Cecilia. Sarkozy is the first French Head of State to divorce in office since Emperor Napoleon and only the second to marry in the Elysee while occupying the highest Office.
And then, the new First Lady of France has already been married before and has been romantically linked to, among others, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Donald Trump and the former (Socialist) French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius. A year ago, in an interview with Le Figaro magazine, she had opined: “I’m monogamous from time to time, but I prefer polygamy and polyandry. Love lasts a long time, but burning desire – two or three weeks.”
President Sarkozy was elected on a promise to restore the moral bearings ofFrance. Does he possess or has he demonstrated a model moral authority? In all, Mr Sarkozi acts like a non-self practicing preacher particularly when he tries to preach to the disenfranchised and suffering French in the suburbs that “happiness cannot be achieved through material possessions”.
John Lichfield wrote in the Independent of 12 February 2008: “Mr. Sarkozy has become a kind of President “moi”, governing with a mirror in one hand, seeking permanent, public attention and approval. Genres have been confused, values muddled, conventions trampled, traditions over turned.”
In the last few weeks, however, events seem to have spun out of the control of a man who is desperate to appear always in control. Many of the President’s supporters and allies now fear that “the Sarko-style may not be a style but rather an absence of style; a nouveau-riche vulgarité; a contempt for the importance of traditions; a belief that the office-holder is more important than the office”. After a widely publicized incident at the Agricultural Fair, where the President was caught on camera engaged in an unsavory exchange with a farmer the camp of the President tries to calm the atmosphere.
Yet, the sobering results of the recent elections and opinion polls proved that President Sarkozy and his antics have become a center of controversy. Now, the real battle will be how best to safeguard French “traditional values and culture” and to avoid succumbing to the modern world’s rapidly shifting ethical and moral standards and beliefs.