New French President Elected

I really hope the election of Nicolas Sarkozy does lead to positive change in the US-French relationship:

The victory of Nicholas Sarkozy of the right-leaning Union for a Popular Movement may be a sign that French society is moving to the right. Observers note the country’s economic stagnation, with a yearly growth rate is 2 percent and has had 8 percent unemployment for 20 years, is the reason. Sarkozy ran his campaign promising changes towards a market-oriented economy, including a more flexible labor market, tax cuts, and a reorganization of the 35 hour work week. His opponent, Socialist Party candidate Segolene Royal, defended welfare and the 35 hour week, but she was still more pro-business than traditional leftist candidates. Even within the Socialist Party many saw economic growth as the biggest issue. This time around France’s independent foreign policy, which likes to stress that it is different from that of the United States, was not a point of contention.

Here are some more economic numbers that were a big reason for his election:

Among European nations, France was the most tenacious in hanging on to the old-style welfare state model. As a result, its gross national income slid to 19th place from eighth in 1982, while contracting the so-called “French disease” manifested by a youth unemployment rate of more than 22 percent. Government expenditures, which accounted for 54 percent of gross domestic product, damaged private sector competitiveness and pulled down France’s share of the global export market from 5.4 percent in 1999 to 4.3 percent in 2005.

Pretty grim numbers. Here is what he had to say about the US, via Big Hominid:

“Certain people in France call me Sarkozy the American. I’m proud of this. I am a man of action; I do what I say and I try to be pragmatic. I share many American values.” In 2004, during a lunch with the American Jewish Committee, the minister speaks out against those who attack him for being an Americanophile. There is a great deal of sincerity in the admiration Nicolas Sarkozy has for the United States. He believes that, across the Atlantic, everyone has an opportunity, regardless of “their name or their face,” as he said one day. He then cited the examples of Arnold Schwarzenegger, elected governor of California, and Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State under George Bush, who is of Jamaican heritage.*

You can read more about Sarkozy via the Big Hominid here as well.