Nicolas Sarkozy

I

Introduction

Nicolas Sarkozy (1955- ), French politician, President of the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP; Union for a Popular Movement) from 2004, and President of France from 2007. Born in Paris, Sarkozy is descended from aristocratic Hungarian immigrants, who left Hungary in 1948 as the country began to fall under communist rule.

II

Early Political Career

After studying law and political science, he became a lawyer. Joining the conservative Rassemblement pour la Répubique (RPR; Rally for the Republic) at its foundation, he headed a national youth committee supporting Jacques Chirac in the 1981 presidential election (won by the Socialist candidate François Mitterrand). Sarkozy became a local councillor in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine (in the department of Hauts-de-Seine) at the age of 21, being elected its mayor in 1983 at the age of 28—a position he retained until 2002. The department of Hauts-de-Seine, a stronghold of the conservative Gaullist politician Charles Pasqua, became the base for Sarkozy’s political career. He served as regional councillor for Île-de-France (1983-1988), vice-president of the regional council of Hauts-de-Seine (1985-1988), deputy for Hauts-de-Seine in the National Assembly (the lower chamber of the French legislature), to which he was first elected in 1988, and then successively at the 1993, 1995, 1997, and 2005 legislative elections, and president of the general council of Hauts-de-Seine (from 2004). In 2000, Sarkozy was elected president of the departmental committee of the RPR in Hauts-de-Seine.

Sarkozy served as minister for the budget and spokesman for the government between March 1993 and July 1994 under prime minister Édouard Balladur, whom he backed as RPR candidate at the 1995 presidential election. Supporting Balladur, rather than Chirac, as the RPR candidate has been reputed to be one cause of the later antipathy between Chirac and Sarkozy. After Chirac won the presidency, Sarkozy went through a period in the political wilderness, using the opportunity to weave together a network of support at different levels of society, to whom he presented himself as a hard-working man of action and admirer of liberal, Anglo-Saxon, values. He was spokesman of the RPR (1995-1997), and the party’s secretary-general (1998-1999). As director of the RPR campaign in the 1999 European elections, at which the party received only 12.7 per cent of the vote, Sarkozy took responsibility for the failure and resigned as secretary-general of the RPR.

III

Ministerial Career

Chirac, with whom Sarkozy has had a complex relationship—each needing the other, though with little evidence of personal regard between them—summoned Sarkozy back into the government after his election victory over Jean-Marie Le Pen at the May 2002 presidential election. Between May 2002 and March 2004, Sarkozy was minister of the interior in the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin. In this role, Sarkozy worked with great energy, defining himself through the security and law and order issues that had been at the heart of the election campaign. Several thousand new jobs were created in the police. Immigration legislation was toughened and the Conseil Français du Culte Musulman (CFCM; French Council of the Muslim Religion) was created to contribute to the creation of a “French Islam” and the integration of Islam into the French Republic. An accomplished media performer, he emerged as the most popular member of the government.

Becoming minister for the economy, finance, and industry in the third government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, in March 2004, Sarkozy argued for classical liberal economic principles (the reduction of public spending, tax cuts) coupled with more traditional views (in a French context, at least) on the interventionist role of the state. He sought to reduce the French budget deficit, in order to abide by European Union rules, and cut the government stake in France Télécom, the main telecommunications company in France.

During the presidential election in 2002, the RPR was transformed into the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP), which was created to support Jacques Chirac’s reelection, and unite the political right in France. Sarkozy, who had never hidden his presidential ambitions, put himself forward as a candidate for the presidency of the UMP after the resignation of Alain Juppé, caused by issues surrounding the financing of the RPR. Sarkozy was elected in November 2004, with 85 per cent of the vote. As a result, Chirac asked that Sarkozy resign his government position. The new president of the UMP set himself the task of doubling membership, which he hoped to revivify with new ideas and strategies.

In June 2005, amid a sense of crisis after the government failed to win assent for a European constitution in a referendum, Sarkozy returned to the office of minister of the interior, in the government of Dominique de Villepin (he retained the post of president of the UMP). When riots spread through the Parisian suburbs in the autumn of 2005, Sarkozy drew criticism when he described the rioters—largely from ethnic minorities—as “racaille”, or “rabble”. While facing criticism from many, Sarkozy’s attitude to the disorder also reinforced his image as a tough defender of law and order.

IV

Winning the Presidency

In November 2006, Sarkozy announced his intention to contest the following year’s presidential election, to choose a successor to Chirac. As a result, he left his post as minister of the interior in March 2007. In the second round of the presidential election, in May, he faced the Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal, and won taking 53 per cent of the vote. In May he appointed François Fillon, who had directed Sarkozy’s election campaign, as prime minister.

In September Sarkozy announced his plans to reform the pension system for public sector workers, particularly those enjoying the “special regimes” that allow some workers to retire early. The reforms pitched Sarkozy against France’s trade unions—the transport unions called a series of strikes beginning in October. In November the transport workers were joined by electricity and gas workers (demanding higher pay), as well as students and magistrates (protesting against government reforms). The same month Sarkozy made his first visit as president to the United States. Addressing a joint session of Congress, he expressed his wish to improve relations between the US and France, which had been damaged by Jacques Chirac’s outspoken opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq (see War on Iraq). He lauded the cooperation of the two countries as NATO allies in Afghanistan, and also expressed his determination to work with the United States to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Sarkozy’s presidency faced its first electoral test in March 2008. The growing unpopularity of his proposed reforms, as well as publicity surrounding his divorce, and marriage to the model and singer Carla Bruni, created difficult circumstances for Sarkozy’s UMP. Even so, the party won just over 47 per cent of the vote—only slightly less than the Socialists. Later that month Sarkozy made a state visit to Britain, addressing both houses of Parliament. He expressed his admiration for Britain’s cultural and economic achievements, and stated his belief that Britain and France should work more closely together at the heart of the European Union (marking a departure from the more chilly tone that characterized Anglo-French relations during the Chirac era).

In July, Sarkozy narrowly won the support of the National Assembly for a set of constitutional reforms that the president claimed would strengthen the French legislature. The reforms would limit the president to two consecutive terms in office, allow the National Assembly to set its own agenda and veto some presidential appointments, and permit the president to address the National Assembly in person. To Sarkozy’s critics, this last measure threatened the separation of powers between the executive and legislature. Keeping up the momentum of his reform programme, in the same month Sarkozy won parliamentary approval for legislation that would allow employers to circumvent the 35-hour working week—a totemic achievement of the 1997-2002 Socialist government of Lionel Jospin.