In a potentially transformative development, popular French politician Nicolas Sarkozy has declared that he will break with the culture of entitlement and the legacy of the 1960s in his upcoming election against Socialist Segolene Royal for the presidency:

The battle to be the next French President heated up yesterday when Nicolas Sarkozy, the centre-right favourite, set out his manifesto for a revolution to restore basic values that would win the confidence of a younger generation that distrusts him.

M Sarkozy, 51, the Interior Minister and leader of the Union for a Popular Majority (UMP), President Chirac’s party, blamed the Sixties generation for squandering France’s heritage and creating a sense of entitlement and despair among the young. He would, he promised, create a new, better-educated France of hard workers and entrepreneurs.

M Sarkozy staged what was effectively the launch of his campaign for the elections next April at a weekend conference of young party activists in Marseilles. On Friday Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister and M Sarkozy’s biggest rival, gave his blessing — without enthusiasm — to “cher Nicolas”, whose candidacy for the UMP now appears certain. An Ipsos poll yesterday indicated that 45 per cent of French people want M Sarkozy to stand for the UMP, with only 8 per cent supporting M de Villepin and 3 per cent in favour of M Chirac running for a third term.

A French politician railing against the entitlement mentality would have done so only to commit political suicide, even just a few months ago. The first hint of change came three years ago, when a young woman named Sabine Herold first appeared as a speaker at anti-union rallies in 2003. Earlier this year she announced her intention to run for the National Assembly as a way of building momentum for French libertarianism. Now Sarkozy, one of the most prominent national politicians in France, appears to have taken up her banner of entrepeneurialism and reduced government interference.

Why has this occurred? Perhaps it comes naturally from his opposition, the Socialist nominee Royal. Sarkozy may have decided that he needed a clearer delineation between Royal and himself. However, the weeks of riots that took place earlier this year, first with Muslim youth in the ghettoes and then with students regarding employment contracts, may have convinced more French than just Sarkozy that the 1960s have turned into a plague on the French body politic, and not just in terms of economics.

The French will have a real choice to make this fall, if Sarkozy means what he says, and that choice will be between French renewal and complete French collapse. Voters finally have an opportunity to choose libertarianism without the racial bigotry of Jean Le Pen to muddy the waters. Sabine Herold may have been the harbinger of the movement, but Sarkozy can be its deliverer. French politics have finally become interesting.

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J’ai retenu trois choses de l’université d’été de l’UMP dont Okan Germiyanloglu fait le bilan. La première est que la droite est mieux organisée et a plus envie de gagner que la droite. La deuxième est que l’UMP est plus [Read More]

Tracked on September 4, 2006 1:05 PM

» Ce que j’ai retenu de l’université d’été de l’UMP from Franceglobal.com
J’ai retenu trois choses de l’université d’été de l’UMP dont Okan Germiyanloglu fait le bilan. La première est que la droite est mieux organisée et a plus envie de gagner que la droite. La deuxième est que l’UMP est plus [Read More]

Tracked on September 5, 2006 12:44 AM