News from the New Party

France decides (part one)

In the first round of the French Presidential Election, voters have given an unexpectedly large lead to Nicolas Sarkozy, the UMP candidate.  He will face the socialist Segolène Royal in the run off vote on May 6.  Although the election has in many ways failed to inspire the electorate, the Sarkozy campaign has been unusual in one respect.  He is not a typical French politician, and his policy platform is also out of the ordinary.  Critics have cast aspersions on his "Anglo-Saxon" outlook - in other words his suspicion of welfarism and an over-mighty state.  The left don't even label him a conservative - they have a much worse term of abuse: to the French left, Nicolas Sarkozy is a liberal.

French socialists, like their brethren elsewhere, don't get much right, but in this respect they are correct.  Nicolas Sarkozy is the most truly liberal presidential candidate (at least, for a major party) in the half a century since the foundation of the Fifth Republic .  As such, the prospect of a Sarkozy presidency is the most striking development in French politics for a generation - since the election of Francois Mitterand, the first Socialist in the Elysée Palace , in 1981.  Although a member of the governing party, and of the outgoing government, Sarkozy is presenting a new vision for France.

It is too early to say whether the thirty percent gained in the first round will be enough to secure the presidency for Sarkozy, but we wish him well.  He has made clear that he believes the way to a better France is through hard work, rather than reliance on a generous welfare state.  Even Jacques Chirac balked at the kind of economic reform that this sort of Thatcherite talk implies, and all sides in seem to recognise that Sarkozy is offering something new, and to some, frightening.  The road to freedom is far from being an easy option – tough mindedness, a willingness to take on vested interests, and above all a willingness to do the right thing whatever it takes, are all needed.  Nicolas Sarkozy has the appearance of a man with these qualities.  If the appearance tallies with reality then the future of France and of Europe could be interesting indeed.