EU-DIGEST

President Nicolas Sarkozy's camp suffered setbacks in several major cities in round one of French local elections Sunday, dealing a new blow to the right-winger as he battles a collapse in popularity.
  
Exit polls showed the opposition Socialists well-placed to score big gains over Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), in next Sunday's decisive second round of a vote cast as a referendum on his presidency.

For more: France24 - Sarkozy's party suffers first round setback

Labels: EU, France Elections, Nicolas Sarkozy

Google’s plans to provide digital versions of classic books over the internet have run into trouble in France after President Sarkozy vowed to spend hundreds of millions of euros to see off what he regards as a threat to the country’s cultural heritage. Mr Sarkozy has signalled that he will earmark a substantial portion of a new state investment fund to try to head off Google’s drive to digitise French-language and European books and art. “We are not going to be stripped of our heritage for the benefit of a big company, no matter how friendly, big or American it is,” Mr Sarkozy said.

Mr Sarkozy’s money will go to boosting Gallica, France’s own book-scanning project, which is tied into Europeana, the EU’s ambitious digital library. The underfunded institution, also inspired by France and backed by Germany, has gathered pace over the past year. Defenders of Gallic independence warned of disaster if France allowed Google to digitise its culture. Jean-Noël Jeanneney, a former chief of the national library (BNF), said that Europe’s very history was under threat. The French could be fed only an Anglo-Saxon version of its revolution in which “valiant British aristocrats triumphed over bloodthirsty Jacobins and the guillotine blotted out the rights of man”, he wrote recently

Labels: Culture, EU, France, Google, Nicolas Sarkozy

Labels: Angela Merkel, EU, Nicolas Sarkozy, Tony Blair

Nicolas Sarkozy may walk from G20 summit over failure to curb bank bonuses - "Show time or reality" ? by A.Michaels and H.Samuel

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mrs Lagarde said bonuses were top of Mr Sarkozy’s list of issues to tackle at the summit in Pittsburgh.“I hope that we will save [Mr Sarkozy] the trouble of having to walk out,” she said. The finance minister also cautioned: “I would find it absolutely outrageous and extraordinary if leaders of other countries did not understand the necessity to change the system and not go back to business as usual.”

Note EU-Digest: The question remains, if Mr. Sarkozy, who obviously is trying to impress his audience at home that he is a though negotiator, will have what it takes to carry out the threat his finance minister has announced. Most people do not believe so.

Labels: EU, France, G20, Nicolas Sarkozy

Burka sign of subservience, not religion, says French President Sarkozy

Burka sign of subservience, not religion, says French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Full-body gowns that are worn by the most conservative Muslim women have no place in France, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday. Speaking to a joint session of parliament, the French leader said wearing the burka or the niqab isn't about religion, but the subjugation of women. "In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity," Sarkozy said to extended applause in a speech at the Chateau of Versailles, southwest of Paris. He said the burka — an all-concealing traditional dress, with built-in mesh covering the eyes — is "a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement. I want to say solemnly that it will not be welcome on our territory," he said.

Note EU-Digest: Bravo Mr. Sarkozy. The wearing of a Burka is not required in the Quran. The Burka must therefore be seen as a symbol of women's oppression and radical Islam. As such it should not only be banned in France but on the whole territory of the European Union.

Labels: Burka, EU, France, Nicolas Sarkozy

Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni Sarkozy
For the complete report from the Blue Star Chronicles click on this link

Obama Snubs Sarkozy: Obama Refuses Dinner With French President - by Beth

Barack and Michelle Obama are in France this evening, but won’t be spending any quality time with their hosts, the President of France and his wife. It seems that French President Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy invited the Obamas out to dinner and the Obamas refused the invitation. This isn’t the first time Obama has snubbed Sarkozy, or the first time he’s snubbed other European leaders. In fact, it seems to be becoming a pattern. In fact, he seems to work hard at keeping European leaders at arms length …. à bout de bras. Actually, this seems to happen with anyone he doesn’t view as important to his own political advancement. In Sarkozy’s case, there was tension between the two leaders at the G20 conference. And there was the comments from Sarkozy about Obama’s inexperience. That didn’t go over well with Obama who sent a message to Sarkozy that he’d read up and do his homework next time. Obama has mastered the Chicago politics of ‘payback’ and has now put Sarkozy in the embarrassing position of having extended an invitation to another world leader and been turned down. So is it à bon chat, bon rat?

Note EU-Digest: If this is true - all one can say is that this is somewhat childish ( prima donna) behavior by Mr. Obama. After all he is not in Chicago but in France as a guest. On the other hand, which is more believable, it could also be another piece of evidence that the cash starved media, which believes it needs to revert to using sensationalist reporting to attract more readers and advertising.The fact is that Mr. Obama had a full day in Germany and only arrived back in France after 8.00 pm. He could also have been just tired. He also is facing another full day today in France.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, France, Nicolas Sarkozy, US

Leave Turkey’s bid to join EU to us, Nicolas Sarkozy warns Barack Obama - by David Charter

The love-in between Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama proved short-lived after the French President warned his US counterpart yesterday to keep his nose out of the issue of Turkey’s membership of the European Union. President Obama used his first EU-US summit, on the eve of his visit to Turkey, to encourage European leaders to embrace the Muslim country and “anchor it in Europe”. However, Mr Sarkozy, a long-standing opponent of full membership for Turkey, rebuffed the US leader in language that seemed to sour the revival of Franco-US relations. Support for Turkey in joining the EU, a process that it began formally in 2005 and hopes to complete before 2020, has long been an American foreign policy goal.

Mr Sarkozy, who has talked of offering Turkey a privileged partnership rather than membership, did not wait to hit back. “I have been working hand in hand with President Obama but when it comes to the European Union it is up to member states of the European Union to decide [on membership],” Mr Sarkozy said in an interview on French television. “I have always been opposed to this entry and I remain opposed,” he added.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, EU enlargement, France, Nicolas Sarkozy, Turkey, US

Joint press conference Merkel Sarkozy: Hammer the bankers or I'll wreck G20 pact – by Ross Lydall

France and Germany warned they would not sign up to an agreement at today's G20 summit unless there was tough action to regulate the global financial markets.At a joint press conference in a hotel, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, made it clear they were not satisfied with proposals on the table for today's gathering. "Germany and France will speak with one and the same voice," Mr Sarkozy said. "These are our red lines."

Meanwhile in London as rioters denounced American-fuelled capitalism, the 44th president of the United States insisted his favorite thing about Britain was "the people".

Labels: Angela Merkel, EU, G20, Nicolas Sarkozy

by Sandrine Rastello and Francois de Beaupuy

France and Germany are not satisfied with the Group of 20’s draft statement on solving the global financial crisis and are pushing leaders attending tomorrow’s summit to adopt concrete measures to increase international regulation, President Nicolas Sarkozy said. “In the current state of things, the projects don’t suit France, or Germany,” Sarkozy told Europe1 radio, citing a conversation he had with German Chancellor Angela Merkel last night. “No agreement is secured. I know by experience that we will need to fight until the last minute.” Finance Minister Christine Lagarde yesterday said Sarkozy would walk out of the summit if his push for stricter financial regulation is rebuffed. Sarkozy said today he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Labels: Angela Merkel, EU, G20, Nicolas Sarkozy

For the complete report from the NYTimes.com click on this link

Sarkozy and Merkel Try to Shape European Unity - by Steven Erlanger and Nicholas Kulish

They are an extremely odd couple — he is short and hyperactive, she is dour and shy. He believes in the power of the state and big interventions; she believes in a softer role for the state, guiding and prodding the market. But the French president and the German chancellor find themselves in a forced marriage in these days of economic crisis. Responsible for the two largest economies among nations that use the euro, known as the euro zone, they are trying to shape European unity in the days before the Group of 20 economic summit meeting this week.

In general, when France and Germany agree, they bring the European Union along, so the two leaders’ relationship is crucial in a period of crisis. While they have produced very different national responses to the economic downturn — with Mrs. Merkel authorizing a larger stimulus package than France has — they have worked together to keep fiscal discipline in the euro zone, and resist American calls for even greater government spending. They have found common cause as well in a call for much tougher global regulation of financial markets, putting the blame for the crisis directly on the “Anglo-Saxons” — the United States and Britain, whose free-market practices, not widely copied in continental Europe, are viewed by France and Germany as not sufficiently disciplined by the state.

Note EU-Digest: The G20 could turn out to be very interesting, not only for the results it might produce, but also as it will be the first "match" opposing the eloquent populist US President Barack Obama, with his unique political showmanship qualities against the EU's pragmatic leadership team of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. To keep it in boxing terms, Obama might "sting like a bee", but Angela and Nicholas are the true "heavy weights" in this contest. Europe must rally behind them and win.

Labels: Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, EU, European Monetary Zone, G20, Nicolas Sarkozy, USA

Germany, France underscores common ground in fighting financial crisis

They may not see eye-to-eye occasionally, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nocolas Sarkozy showed a united front on Thursday in rejecting U.S. calls for more economic stimulus plans amid a global economic downturn, and they stressed that the upcoming summit of the Group of 20 (G20) should achieve binding results on tougher financial regulations.

Speaking after a German-Franco summit meeting in Berlin, Sarkozy stressed that the two countries have already invested a lot to check economic meltdown. "We don't want to spend more, " said Sarkozy, adding that the European priority now is to achieve international agreements to tighten up regulation of financial markets. Merkel said on Thursday that British Prime Minister Gordon has signed up to agreement achieved at a European summit in Berlin last month which called for tougher regulation of hedge funds, a crackdown on tax havens and more funds for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help countries in crisis.

But British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling seemed to send a different signal by saying on Wednesday that his country and the United States "see eye-to-eye" on the need for economic stimulus.

Labels: Angela Merkel, Economy, EU, G20, Gordon Brown, IMF, Nicolas Sarkozy

France's first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy wants to have a baby with her husband President Nicolas Sarkozy but would be just as happy to adopt one, she said in an interview to be published later this week.

"I would like that, but I don't know if at my age it would be possible," the 41-year-old singer and former supermodel told Figaro Magazine when asked if she hoped for a second child.

"If it's not biologically possible, I'll adopt one," she added.

Labels: Carla Bruni, EU, France, Nicolas Sarkozy

French justice chief Dati 'plans' to quit - by Angelique Chrisafis

Rachida Dati, the French justice minister handpicked by Nicolas Sarkozy as his symbol of change, is expected to quit in June after standing for the European parliament. The minister, who recently returned to work five days after giving birth in order to fight to keep her post, is said to have resisted leaving the government.A source from Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party told AFP news agency that she would run for the European elections but no decision had been fixed on her departure from government. Dati was always vulnerable. She was personally appointed by Sarkozy to one of France's most important ministries having never run for election and with little experience of party politics. This meant her future depended on the president's whim and strategy.

Labels: EU, France, Nicolas Sarkozy, Rachida Dati

Sarkozy - A Whirlwind Meets the Mideast - by Jim Hoagland

"Action is my policy," Nicolas Sarkozy once explained to a foreign acquaintance. And movement is the French president's only constant. So welcome to the Middle East, Monsieur le President. You may have found a crisis to measure up to your metabolism. His quicksilver qualities made Sarkozy the most interesting leader on the international scene over the past year, if not the most consequential or successful. By interjecting himself into the small but brutal Israeli-Palestinian war in the Gaza Strip, Sarkozy continues to plunge headfirst where others tiptoe away."He shakes things up, calculates what has been gained or lost, and then moves on," says a close associate. "He is a lawyer, at heart as well by profession, ready to handle things on a case-by-case basis rather than insisting on organizing principles."

President of the European Union for the second half of 2008, Sarkozy "was brutal in the way he ran E.U. meetings, giving the Poles 10 minutes to decide, cornering the Germans when they tried to duck and annoying everyone over something," says another Sarkozy colleague. "But it was the only way to get decisions in an organization of 27 sovereign nations."

Labels: EU, Middle East, Nicolas Sarkozy

Sarkozy's big EU ambitions-by Mark Mardell

Last week's summit of the EU's prime ministers and presidents ended in what Mr Sarkozy, at least, regarded as an historic triumph, with deals on climate change, the economy and the Lisbon Treaty. The presidency can be a rather weak excuse for a few "informal" meetings in the country holding the presidency, with a few pet ideas shoved on top of whatever is the main business of the day. This was dramatically different. There's no doubt Mr Sarkozy put his stamp on the presidency in a way that few manage, behaving as if he was indeed the President of Europe.

Note EU-Digest: Great job Mr.Sarkozy...most of wish you could stay on as President.

Labels: EU, France, Nicolas Sarkozy

GREAT JOB PRESIDENT SARKOZY - who ends his 6 months EU presidency

By clinching European agreement on climate change and an economic stimulus plan, French President Nicolas Sarkozy can hail success as he wraps up a six-month EU presidency marked by a series of crises. Indeed, Mr Sarkozy has capitalized on such dramatic events as the Russia-Georgia conflict and the financial meltdown to prod change into European institutions he has belittled as rigid. As he wrapped up his last summit in Brussels Friday with the twin climate and finance accords, the French president was also the first to recognise his achievements, calling the climate change pact agreed to by the 27-member bloc 'historic'. 'We are starting to change the way we do things in Europe - talking less and doing more,' Mr Sarkozy told reporters.Mr Sarkozy's hard-charging persona is a stimulating break from the EU status quo. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has praised the French leader's 'positive impatience' and EU Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering 'his very strong attitude'.

'He has given Europe a new momentum by jostling entrenched habits and many countries are pleased with that,' one European diplomat said.

Labels: EU, Nicolas Sarkozy, Unity

Calmer tack with Russia

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is pushing a proposal for a Euro-Atlantic security pact. This has apparently been prompted by the NATO expansion into Eastern Europe, formerly Russia's sphere of influence; the U.S. plan to use sites in the Czech Republic and Poland for missile defense; and Russia's own wish to mend relations with the West after it invaded Georgia and recognized the independence of the two breakaway enclaves South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Mr. Medvedev's eyes are clearly set on the new U.S. administration to be led by President-elect Barack Obama. Hours after Mr. Obama's election as the next U.S. president, Mr. Medvedev threatened to deploy Iskander missiles (300- to 500-km range) in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad between Poland and Lithuania. He later said Russia could cancel the deployment if Mr. Obama abandoned the missile-shield plan in Europe. Mr. Obama has not yet made clear his stance on the issue. While the United States says the missile shield is a defense against "rogue states" such as Iran, Russia suspects that the shield is designed to destroy its strategic missiles.

Help for Russia came from French President Nicolas Sarkozy during a Russia-European Union summit in mid-November. He supported Mr. Medvedev's call for a new "security architecture," and both suggested that talks on the proposal be held by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The French president also questioned the U.S. missile-shield plan, saying deployment "would bring nothing to security in Europe" and "complicate things."

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, Nicolas Sarkozy, Russia, US

Russia - Medvedev backs plan for Europe security summit - by Tony Barber and Stefan Wagstyl

The European Union and Russia backed plans yesterday for a pan-European security summit next year to ease tensions raised by the Georgia crisis and a dispute over missile systems in eastern Europe. Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, and Dmitry Medvedev, his Russian counterpart, said the summit could take place next June or July, bringing together the US, Russia and the EU's 27 member states under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The fate of the proposal is likely to hang on the stance taken by Barack Obama, the US president-elect, after he takes office in January and conducts a review of US national security and defence policy.

Labels: EU, Nicolas Sarkozy, Russia, US

Chavez: G20 summit a waste of time

Hugo Chavez says that G-20 summit in Washington is a waste of time, because it excluded the poor and is hosted by the people who caused the problem. "Really, I don't know what they are going to do in Washington, the host is to blame," Chavez said, referring to Saturday's meeting of the world's 20 richest countries to tackle the problems of world economy. "They are going to waste their time," Chavez said in a television speech to supporters.

Note EU-Digest: Probably not a complete waste of time. It will provide an opportunity for some of the major economic players in the world to exchange ideas, say goodbye to President Bush and to issue a positive statement. However, without the key player, President elect Obama, who is not yet sworn in as the leader of the USA, which deregulated financial system caused this whole problem in the first place, no decisions of any importance can be made. It's also interesting to see that the British PM Gordon Brown, who fought his country's participation in a common European currency and close regulatory and monetary cooperation, has now suddenly become an advocate of a more structured global financial system. In this respect, it seems that the only world leader who has come up with well thought out plan for a badly needed restructured capitalist system is Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France, presently also holding the Presidency of the EU.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, G20, George Bush, Gordon Brown, Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Sarkozy, US, Venezuela

Nicolas Sarkozy calls for rethink over US missile defence system in Europe - by David Charter

Barack Obama was handed an early foreign policy hot potato yesterday when President Sarkozy proposed a truce in the row over US plans for a missile defence system in Europe. Taking it upon himself to make the EU’s first intervention in the debate – and getting the backing of Russia, which has threatened to position missiles in Kaliningrad – Mr Sarkozy proposed a summit next year on a new pan-European security system, after a suspension of activity from both Moscow and Washington. The French President’s latest piece of off-the-cuff diplomacy caught most of the main players by surprise and raised eyebrows for seemingly trying to bounce the next US President into a policy change as well as talks about a security organisation to rival Nato

Note EU-Digest: compliments to Mr. Sarkozy. The "missile project" was an initiative by the Bush administration, against the wishes of a majority of the citizens in the countries involved and the EU. The missile shield plan also turned into a major stumbling block for Russia and the EU to develop neccesary closer ties. Mr. Obama once in the White House does best to scrap it.

Labels: EU, France, G20, Nicolas Sarkozy, US

World recession deepens ahead of G20 Washington crisis summit

The economies of all 27 EU countries contracted by 0.2 percent in the third quarter, escaping recession only because second-quarter growth was zero and not negative. Another sign of the brutal economic climate came from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries which said it would hold a special meeting in Cairo on November 29 to discuss how to respond to the slump in prices. Some members want a new production cut to hold prices up despite the acceleration this might give to the downturn. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, European Commission head Manuel Barroso met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Nice, France, to work on proposals for the summit.

Mr.Sarkozy, current president of the European Union, said on Thursday: "I leave for Washington tomorrow to explain that the dollar, which at the end of World War II was the only world currency, can no longer claim to be the sole world currency. The world changes. We are in the 21st century and the French view is that we cannot continue into the 21st century with a system (established) in the 20th century," he said.

Labels: G20, Nicolas Sarkozy, US Economic Meltdown

France - Nicolas Sarkozy 'Le King of Bling Bling' YouTube video smash hit in France - by Umee Khan

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, is caricatured as "Le King of Bling Bling" in an animated YouTube clip which has become a hit in France. In the latest clip, the French leader can be seen surrounded by scantily-clad women, singing "I am the King of Bling-Bling" in the five minute video. At the start of the film, Miss Bruni's voice can be heard before Sarkozy is seen driving through town in a sports car. He is then seen wearing a lot of gold jewellery or "bling", smoking a cigar and clutching several mobile phones - before 'rapping' with glamorous women in a nightclub.

Labels: EU, France, King of Bling Bling, Nicolas Sarkozy