Nicolas Sarkozy and France's opposition
All the president's enemies: Why French politics is turning nasty and personal
Illustration by Peter Schrank
WHEN President Nicolas Sarkozy introduced a tough law earlier this month to cut off internet access for those who illegally download music and films, it ought to have appealed to France’s arty left. It has long cherished the “French cultural exception”, the idea that culture has a special value and needs protection.
French singers and actors urged the opposition Socialists to back the law. In the end, though, the Socialists voted against it, as did the Communists and Greens. And many did so because of their antipathy to the man who devised the law: Mr Sarkozy. “Systematic anti-Sarkozysm can make us lose our common sense,” commented Jack Lang, a former culture minister and the only Socialist deputy to vote in favour.
Two years into Mr Sarkozy’s term in office, intense and obsessive dislike of the president—anti-sarkozysme—is fast becoming the defining feature of French opposition politics. This goes beyond the president’s poor popularity rating, which fell another four points to 32% in May, according to TNS Sofres. In the election for the European Parliament, due on June 7th, the subject is not so much the future of Europe as Mr Sarkozy himself. The Socialist Party, for instance, is campaigning on an anti-Sarkozy platform. One of its slogans is “Stop Barroso, stop Sarkozy!”, a dig at both the presidents of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso (considered too liberal in economic policy) and of France. On the far left, the New Anti-Capitalist Party is calling for a “vote against Sarkozy and the Europe of capitalists”.
Or take François Bayrou, a centrist leader, who kicked off his campaign by publishing a vitriolic book entitled “Abuse of Power”. Describing France under Mr Sarkozy as an “egocracy”, he refers to the president variously as “a blind monarch” and “a barbaric child”, who “believes himself all-powerful and imagines that the world starts with him and is in his hand”. Magazines devote many pages to analysing the president’s psychological make-up. The French blogosphere, too, is filled with caustic anti-Sarkozy commentary, mocking everything from his taste for Rolex watches to his overbearing posse of bodyguards and his tough policies on crime.
Some of this antipathy stems from genuine differences over policy. Mr Sarkozy was elected with a bold reform programme that broke with the consensual ideas of his fellow Gaullist predecessors, and many elements remain controversial. His attempt to shake up the centralised university system, for example, is fiercely contested by the left, which considers the whiff of competition to be an assault on the republican principle of standardised higher education for all.
Often, however, laying into Mr Sarkozy is a convenient way for the opposition to disguise its own failures. The Socialist Party is divided and drifting. Martine Aubry, its leader, is not a member of parliament; Ségolène Royal, who is not its leader, behaves as if she is. Mr Sarkozy’s response to the recession is hard to criticise. He stepped in early to reassure the banks and put together a stimulus plan. More slippery still for the left, which is trying to accuse him of promoting savage free-market liberalism, he has targeted extra tax cuts and benefits on the low-paid and unemployed—with the help of Martin Hirsch, a left-wing anti-poverty specialist he recruited into government.
Above all, it is Mr Sarkozy’s style and method of governing that prompts real passion. No president under the fifth republic has run so much directly from the Elysée Palace. Presidential advisers are as likely to decide policy as ministers. The prime minister’s job has been downgraded to that of manager. Mr Sarkozy’s network of business chums invites suspicions of cronyism. Moreover, by opening up his private life to public inspection, he has made his own behaviour, with all its quirks, a legitimate subject of debate in a way that would have been unthinkable in the past. He recently posted on Facebook a video of himself and two dogs dropping in on Carla Bruni, his wife.
Thanks to a hefty parliamentary majority, anti-Sarkozysm is unlikely to translate into legislative trouble. If anything, economic discontent in the street and at the factory gate remains the greater worry. Support among Mr Sarkozy’s own electoral base remains solid. Indeed, the proliferation of parties on the left and centre means his UMP party may well come out top in the European election. The French may not much like their president. But they have yet to find anyone they like better.
May 28th 2009 | PARIS
From The Economist print edition
Illustration by Peter Schrank
WHEN President Nicolas Sarkozy introduced a tough law earlier this month to cut off internet access for those who illegally download music and films, it ought to have appealed to France’s arty left. It has long cherished the “French cultural exception”, the idea that culture has a special value and needs protection.
French singers and actors urged the opposition Socialists to back the law. In the end, though, the Socialists voted against it, as did the Communists and Greens. And many did so because of their antipathy to the man who devised the law: Mr Sarkozy. “Systematic anti-Sarkozysm can make us lose our common sense,” commented Jack Lang, a former culture minister and the only Socialist deputy to vote in favour.
Two years into Mr Sarkozy’s term in office, intense and obsessive dislike of the president—anti-sarkozysme—is fast becoming the defining feature of French opposition politics. This goes beyond the president’s poor popularity rating, which fell another four points to 32% in May, according to TNS Sofres. In the election for the European Parliament, due on June 7th, the subject is not so much the future of Europe as Mr Sarkozy himself. The Socialist Party, for instance, is campaigning on an anti-Sarkozy platform. One of its slogans is “Stop Barroso, stop Sarkozy!”, a dig at both the presidents of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso (considered too liberal in economic policy) and of France. On the far left, the New Anti-Capitalist Party is calling for a “vote against Sarkozy and the Europe of capitalists”.
Or take François Bayrou, a centrist leader, who kicked off his campaign by publishing a vitriolic book entitled “Abuse of Power”. Describing France under Mr Sarkozy as an “egocracy”, he refers to the president variously as “a blind monarch” and “a barbaric child”, who “believes himself all-powerful and imagines that the world starts with him and is in his hand”. Magazines devote many pages to analysing the president’s psychological make-up. The French blogosphere, too, is filled with caustic anti-Sarkozy commentary, mocking everything from his taste for Rolex watches to his overbearing posse of bodyguards and his tough policies on crime.
Some of this antipathy stems from genuine differences over policy. Mr Sarkozy was elected with a bold reform programme that broke with the consensual ideas of his fellow Gaullist predecessors, and many elements remain controversial. His attempt to shake up the centralised university system, for example, is fiercely contested by the left, which considers the whiff of competition to be an assault on the republican principle of standardised higher education for all.
Often, however, laying into Mr Sarkozy is a convenient way for the opposition to disguise its own failures. The Socialist Party is divided and drifting. Martine Aubry, its leader, is not a member of parliament; Ségolène Royal, who is not its leader, behaves as if she is. Mr Sarkozy’s response to the recession is hard to criticise. He stepped in early to reassure the banks and put together a stimulus plan. More slippery still for the left, which is trying to accuse him of promoting savage free-market liberalism, he has targeted extra tax cuts and benefits on the low-paid and unemployed—with the help of Martin Hirsch, a left-wing anti-poverty specialist he recruited into government.
Above all, it is Mr Sarkozy’s style and method of governing that prompts real passion. No president under the fifth republic has run so much directly from the Elysée Palace. Presidential advisers are as likely to decide policy as ministers. The prime minister’s job has been downgraded to that of manager. Mr Sarkozy’s network of business chums invites suspicions of cronyism. Moreover, by opening up his private life to public inspection, he has made his own behaviour, with all its quirks, a legitimate subject of debate in a way that would have been unthinkable in the past. He recently posted on Facebook a video of himself and two dogs dropping in on Carla Bruni, his wife.
Thanks to a hefty parliamentary majority, anti-Sarkozysm is unlikely to translate into legislative trouble. If anything, economic discontent in the street and at the factory gate remains the greater worry. Support among Mr Sarkozy’s own electoral base remains solid. Indeed, the proliferation of parties on the left and centre means his UMP party may well come out top in the European election. The French may not much like their president. But they have yet to find anyone they like better.
May 28th 2009 | PARIS
From The Economist print edition