So France has a new president! It has been interesting observing the reactions in the media here in New Zealand. Friends in France are often surprised to hear that French (and European) current affairs are followed with interest down here at the bottom of the world. Reactions appear to have been fairly positive thus far :
Mr Sarkozy, son of a Hungarian immigrant, is not a product of the public service academy that has put its stamp on most of France’s leading figures. He sounds like a man of change rather than of tradition, and France sorely needs that. The 12-year presidency of Jacques Chirac has left the economy flat and overdue for drastic repairs. Mr Chirac was a classic conservative, content to accept the long-established line that market liberalism is somehow Anglo-Saxon and foreign to the social and moral foundations of the French republic. Mr Sarkozy is not nearly so sniffy.
(speaking of M. Sarkozy’s break with the past) His emphasis on dignity, opportunity, respect and nationhood appeal to an older moral ethic, and a conception of France which, at least in theory, recognises the common good. The change he is promising rejects the pieties, policies and attitudes of rigid socialism…which have perplexed and paralysed France since they began their rise in the 1960s.
There have also been comments about Sarkozy being a “union-basher”, and predictions that he will come down hard on immigrants so as to be seen to be taking action. Nevertheless, much is made of his Hungarian background, and his selection of an immigrant cabinet minister.
It was France’s largest voter turnout in two decades. What does this say about how the French view their future? We are watching with interest.
Simon,
Well, we never even heard there was a regime change in France over here in the U.S.A. Our headlines today was something about Paris Hilton not eating all her breakfast. I hope the change in France will be good for you guys.