Nicolas Sarkozy is new President of France
Paris (AsiaNews) – Fifty-two-year-old Nicolas Sarkozy is the new president of France. He won yesterday’s ballot with 53% of the votes, beating his Socialist contender Segolene Royal, who did not even get 47%.
Addressing tens of thousands of supporters in the Place de la Concorde, the neo-president said: “I will not betray you, I will not lie to you, I will not disappoint you.” And to those who did not vote for him, he also promised to be “president of all the French”.
Sarkozy will succeed François Chirac on 16 May and has pledged to act swiftly to implement his electoral programme. His campaign was based on the theme of making a “clean break” from previous French policies that have saddled the country with a huge debt, high levels of unemployment and very strong discontent in the suburbs. In his message yesterday, he reiterated that France needed change; work needed to be valued, efforts awarded and authority reinforced.
His electoral pledges include tax cuts and reducing the bureaucratic structure, a law guaranteeing minimum service in transport strikes and rules that oblige unemployed to take up work offered them so as not to be a burden on public relief. On the social front, he has promised to put in place strict rules to make it harder for immigrants to bring over their extended families to France.
His programme, based on merit, commitment and authority, stands in stark contrast to the welfare-oriented image put forward by Royal, who proposed enhancing state protection and increasing the minimum wage.
The British Premier, Tony Blair, the US President, George W. Bush and Saad Hariri of Lebanon were among the first to offer their congratulations to the new president.
On foreign policy, Sarkozy has pledged to make France once again “the land of human rights”, breaking away from the pragmatic style that prompted Paris to court – in the name of economy and wellbeing – dictatorships and authoritarian states in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
On this line, and in defence of a European identity tied to Christian roots, Sarkozy has expressed himself many times against the entry of Turkey in the European Union.
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