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Sarkozy, the Anglophile
The French president might not be taken seriously by some old-fashioned analysts and columnists, but he does cause a stir. If this does not help France's interests, it might not harm them, either.
- By Ahmad Mustafa, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 11:17 April 6, 2008
The French president's state visit to Britain around Easter was the focus of the media, not for Nicolas Sarkozy and his political statements, but for his ex-model wife Carla Bruni.
The main conclusion of most newspaper articles was that the first lady used her charm and beauty as weapons to "seduce" the British into an Anglo-French love affair. Apart from that, nothing serious was concluded from the first state visit by a French president to Britain in more than a decade.
Since his election in May last year, the centre-right Sarkozy has seen his approval ratings as president fall. But that has not stopped him from talking about "change".
Last November, he told American representatives and senators at Capitol Hill how much he likes America, and the media called him "Sarkozy the American". And in Westminster he was expressing his love for Britain - to be called "Sarko the Brit" by the media. Yet, nobody in France is calling the president "Sarko the Franco".
It is not only opinion polls that are failing the hyperactive French president. It seems people outside France are as sceptical about him as the French public.
Sarkozy was keen to dissociate his France from that of his predecessor Jacques Chirac even before he assumed the leadership of his country. He expressed his fondness for George W. Bush and Tony Blair.
Steering the French nation westward towards the Anglo-Saxon path on the international scene, instead of focusing on leadership in Europe along with the Germans, might not be an easy task.
The Americans, especially the Bush administration, are keen on the shift in French foreign policy. They want to make maximum use of Paris's willingness to get back to Nato command.
Sarkozy reiterated his pledge to send more French troops to Afghanistan at the Nato summit in Bucharest, despite the resentment in the French parliament. He first announced it before a foreign parliament (the House of Commons) to the astonishment of his socialist opposition back home. They accused him of dragging France into the Afghan quagmire.
Always tricky
But some respected analysts in London will tell you that French pledges are always tricky when it comes to action, and the troops in Afghanistan would still be under French command, separate from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) command - working on their own and not like the British or American troops.
For Sarkozy, trying to outbid his host, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on foreign policy issues was not the clever thing to do. His call for boycotting the Beijing Olympics and comments against the Arab Summit being held at the time in Damascus were not echoed by Brown.
Sarkozy needs a stronger relationship with Britain to help him in Europe, and across the Atlantic. But internal French problems, economic and social, are more pressing. They cannot be neglected for international theatrics.
Tackling the concerns of the ordinary French citizen might be more difficult for Sarkozy than declaring interventionist stands on Iran, Lebanon and elsewhere, away from the simmering Parisian suburbs.
No doubt that Sarkozy attracts a lot of media spotlight wherever he goes, and not only for his personal life. And this is something the Americans like. He is a good example of the post-modernist leader of a Western European democracy. Substance is not that important in post-modernism, the visual bites and sound-bites are more significant.
The French president might not be taken seriously by some old-fashioned analysts and columnists, but he does cause a stir. If this does not help France's interests, it might not harm them, either.
It was not easy for Sarkozy to convince the Brits of his sincerity by saying: "I was often inspired in my youth by the greatness of Britain", as the British media dug deep into his personal history, only to discover that he "spent his teenage years obsessed with Charles de Gaulle and cheesy French pop".
You cannot just scrap the old rivalries, of more than a century, with a few sweet words. The Brits are not the Yankees; it takes them time to make up their mind. They are not easily swayed.
Dr Ahmad Mustafa is a London-based Arab writer.
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