Like most other European leaders, the Germans were already somewhat edgy about Sarkozy's repeated sniping at the independence of the European Central Bank. He thinks some more policy input by elected politicians (by which he means lower interest rates) would be a good idea. The Germans, who know from experience that this tends to lead to bad policies and worse inflation, strongly disagree.

And growing numbers of French voters also seem taken aback by some of Sarkozy's other initiatives. A storm is brewing over his latest plan to limit immigration into France by using DNA to check claims that would-be immigrants are simply joining their families already resident in France. "Inhuman," chorus the human-rights campaigners.

But that is just part of his crackdown on immigration. New immigrants will also have to prove they are solvent financially, are able to get at least a minimum-wage job and also pass a test in their home country to show they can speak French and "understand French values." Sarkozy has also set an annual target of 25,000 deportations of illegal immigrants.

This week Sarkozy is introducing new legislation that sets him on a collision course with the public sector labor unions (and the Socialist opposition) cutting their generous retirement packages. (He has already limited their right to strike.) Train drivers will lose the right to retire at 50, and in future only one out two retirees from the civil service will be replaced. He also wants to end the "special regimes" for retirees from state-owned industries and utilities like Electricite de France who get on average 50 percent more in pensions -- a basic $3,000 a month -- than the private sector. This costs the state $15 billion a year.

Labor union leaders, who seem convinced that they have broad public support despite opinion polls that suggest otherwise, are threatening "a major conflict." Bernard Thibault, the Communist head of the Confederation Generale du Travail, France's oldest trade union, made his name by leading and winning a strike against similar reforms in 1995. He warned in this week of the rugby World Cup, "There will be sport -- and not only in the rugby stadiums." Olivier Besancenot, the postman who was the Trotskyist presidential candidate, denounced Sarkozy's plans as "a declaration of war."

Sarkozy can claim a mandate for this kind of dramatic reform after his sweeping victory in the presidential election four months ago, when he claimed to represent "the France that gets up early in the mornings and works hard." France has to change, he maintains, in order to reach the 3 percent annual growth rate the economy needs. And even after the latest controversies his poll ratings are still 62 percent favorable, but they are dropping fast, falling 5 percent this month.

However wild and controversial some of his ideas, his sense of political daring allows him to bring about change just by saying the unsayable. He suggested last week that it was time to reform the European Union's annual $60 billion farm subsidy program. This has hitherto been untouchable because of the sacrosanct status of France's farmers -- and a major obstacle to any hopes of reviving the moribund Doha Round of world trade talks.

"The Common Agriculture Policy, as it exists today, can no longer respond to the challenges of post-2013," Sarkozy told farmers in Brittany last week. "Everyone knows this, but nobody says it. I want a new CAP."

But he went on to say that farmers should shift from depending on handouts to getting "a fairer price" for their food through tariff preference against imports and more help for exports. Such a "European preference" system would probably kill off the Doha round for good.

"If Europe gives up defending its agriculture," Sarkozy said, "If it refuses to act and is happy to give in when the U.S. Congress votes to continue its subsidies, what is the point of having an agricultural policy?"

Sarkozy likes the idea of European preference and European (and particularly French) champions in industry, which runs counter to the whole spirit of free trade and competition that the world trade talks are supposed to enhance.

But then again, he is determined to improve relations with the United States and backs sanctions and tough action against Iran's nuclear ambitions, and is now proposing to bring France back into full membership of NATO, including the joint military command that President Charles de Gaulle rejected 40 years ago.

"We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war," Sarkozy's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, declared this week in a statement that provoked anger and dismay in Tehran. Kouchner, a hero to many on the left and in the developing world as the founder of Doctors Without Borders, was recruited from the Socialist Party in a characteristic coup by Sarkozy.

It is not that there is a good Sarkozy and a bad Sarkozy -- there is simply Super-Sarko, as French cartoonists depict him, a man of intense energy who fires on all cylinders at once and heads off in multiple directions, in a display of more energy than thought and of more impatience than policy.

Sarkozy seldom sees to see the inconsistencies in his outbursts. Backing the Americans on Iran may improve his standing in Washington, but attacking U.S. farm subsidies while proposing "European preference" reduces it. Declaring that "France is back in Europe" makes little sense when Sarkozy immediately follows it by breaching the EU rules on budget deficits and demanding interest rate cuts from the European Central Bank. Offering the Germans a share in France's nuclear arsenal when the Berlin government is grappling with anti-nuclear campaigners over energy policy is simply dumb politics.

As a result, France's Le Figaro reports that Chancellor Merkel is irritated by Sarkozy's "rough and ready" manner. Germany's Rheinische Post says the Franco-German relationship, traditionally the anchor of the EU, is in "deep crisis."

Europe and the world, just like the French, are going to have to get used to this extraordinary politician, his bold ideas and his relentless energy. The question is whether the bad ideas will so outnumber the good that people stop taking him seriously, something that never happened to that other bold European leader, Margaret Thatcher, who was indeed the "Iron lady." As he faces a long confrontation against the labor unions on the streets of France this autumn, we have yet to see of what mettle Nicolas Sarkozy is made.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News