Sarko’s sex-appeal hides modest performance

In his first speech after being elected French president on 6 May last year, Nicolas Sarkozy declared: "France is back in Europe." He told the European Parliament in November last year that "putting France back at the heart of European construction" was his priority as president. Seven months later Sarkozy’s record is mixed.

There is no doubt that he has established himself as the unrivalled political leader in Europe. With his boundless energy and his ability to churn out initiatives like a flower girl scattering petals at a wedding, Sarkozy commands the headlines with every speech or press conference. While he dazzles at EU summits and packs out his press conferences, the UK’s Gordon Brown sulks like a bored teenager at a family party he does not want to attend. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has lost the lustre she had during her country’s presidency of the EU as she wrestles with internal problems in the coalition that she heads. The absence of serious competition, as well as his personal talents, have allowed Sarko to steal the leadership crown.

But ignoring his media impact (and his relationship with former supermodel Carlo Bruni, pictured with Sarkozy above), his achievements are modest.

His championing of a mini-treaty was a crucial element in finding a way past the French ‘No’ vote against the EU constitution in 2005. The simplified treaty became a banner around which the Dutch and British prime ministers, who face a tall order selling the new treaty to their citizens, could unite while the EU retained almost all of the substance of the rejected constitution.

But his call for a committee of wise men to reflect on the borders of Europe as a way to provide justification for shutting Turkey out of the EU was watered down. The UK, Sweden and even Germany joined forces to make sure the group does not report back until 2010 and steers clear of any attempt to define geographical limits to EU enlargement. Nor will it reopen old debates about foreign policy at this stage. There will be major institutional changes in foreign policy from the start of next year when the Lisbon treaty comes into force, with the merging of the roles of high representative for foreign policy and commissioner for external relations, and with the introduction of a full-time president of the Council of Ministers. The latter need to bed down before there is any assessment of the need for further changes.

Sarkozy’s plan for a Mediterranean Union has been badly received by Merkel although the Italian and Spanish prime ministers are keen on it.

His most important policy change so far is to back further EU enlargement. He is reversing his predecessor Jacques Chirac’s decision to give the French people a veto over admissions to the EU by changing the constitution so that future enlargements must be put to a referendum. Sarkozy wants to change the constitution again. The change of heart can be seen in France’s desire to find ways to bring Serbia back into the European fold even if there is some concern that Sarkozy is too ready to ease the pressure on Serbia to hand over indicted war criminals.

But it is on economic policy and specifically the monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB), that Sarkozy’s claims to return France to the heart of Europe are most jarring. His strident calls for lower interest rates to boost growth bear the hallmark of his speechwriter and close advisor Henri Guaino, a classic "social Gaullist" who continues to preach that traditional French statism can reverse the new social realities of globalised financial markets and trade flows. Sarkozy’s lofty and unconvincing promise to "make capitalism more ethical" derives from this timeworn school of French political thought on which many, mistakenly, believed Sarkozy had turned his back.

Some observers believe that Sarkozy’s ECB-bashing is little more than rhetoric and that he will keep it up because it is useful to maintain external enemies as he pushes through internal reforms. But that supposes that Sarkozy will continue to push for meaningful reform. As his popularity has sunk, reform of special pension schemes and labour market rules have stalled as the president seems to be more interested in the trappings of celebrity lifestyle and in headline-grabbing diplomatic missions (the medical workers in Libya, the French adoption-charity workers in Chad and prisoners held in Colombia) rather than getting on with the dirty business of domestic political work.

The biggest test of Sarkozy’s European credentials will come soon as the EU assesses whether he has kept his commitment to get France’s public deficit down to zero by 2010. Sarkozy was banking on indulgence from his EU partners and a boost to growth from his package of tax cuts. But the financial fallout from the subprime crisis and the subsequent credit crunch has probably shaved around a percentage point off economic growth in France this year. Since lower economic growth inevitably leads to lower tax receipts, this is endangering the president’s scope for tax cuts. It is curious that Sarkozy, "a convinced European", has not yet publicly praised one of the most impressive achievements of the EU by a fellow Frenchman: ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet’s skilled handling of the credit squeeze, ensuring that there was enough liquidity in the interbank lending market.

In his first speech after being elected French president on 6 May last year, Nicolas Sarkozy declared: "France is back in Europe." He told the European Parliament in November last year that "putting France back at the heart of European construction" was his priority as president. Seven months later Sarkozy’s record is mixed.