International Herald Tribune Editorial - France votes for Sarkozy and for liberal reform

International Herald Tribune Editorial - France votes for Sarkozy and for liberal reform
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: May 7, 2007


The French have spoken clearly: They want change. Nicolas Sarkozy, newly elected as the next president of the French Republic, may have soft-pedaled his message of radical labor and social reform during the hard-fought campaign, but it was that message that brought the 52-year-old son of Hungarian immigrants to the pinnacle of French politics. It was the shared sense of the urgent need for change that drew an astounding 85 percent of the French electorate to the polls.

The preliminary tally was 53 percent for Sarkozy to Ségolène Royal's 47 percent. That was a respectable showing for Royal, whose Socialist Party never rallied fully behind her.

But it was an unequivocal mandate for Sarkozy and for change.

It may seem curious that the candidate of the incumbent Union for a Popular Movement - the center-right party founded by the outgoing president, Jacques Chirac, which has been in power for 12 years - should be the one to stand for change.

But as interior and finance minister in the current government, and even as head of the party, Sarkozy has increasingly shaped his own profile in domestic and international affairs, promising a "rupture" with the politics of the past.

On the economic front, his insistence that France must work harder if it is to remain competitive led to his frequent depiction as the French Margaret Thatcher.

On international affairs, Sarkozy pledged a closer relationship with the United States, which he openly admires.

These are all positions we warmly welcome, and we urge Sarkozy to waste no time in launching his program.

The greatest challenge for the new president, a tough proponent of law-and-order when he was interior minister who assailed rioting youths in 2005 as "scum," will be to overcome the deep hostility he has attracted in France's poor suburbs. Already on election night the police clashed with groups of demonstrators in Paris.

Reaching out to North African immigrants and their children would be a great way for Sarkozy to start his presidency, especially if this would clear the way for him to undertake the liberal reforms for which his countrymen elected him.