The paradox is only apparent. During his television appearance, Nicolas Sarkozy only addressed international issues in the last part of the show. Indeed, the French people were expecting concrete and immediate answers from the President of the Republic to their growing and urgent inquiries about their daily struggles. In this type of meticulously organized exercise, whose barely concealed aim – as advised by his counselors – was to polish the considerably tarnished image of the Elysée’s host, purchasing power, social issues, pension funding, and immigration were logically prioritized over thoughts on foreign policy and defense. This is a regretfully well-established tradition, it seems, in old democracies. Yet, it was on these international issues that the head of state was particularly clear and persuasive.
A survey conducted by IFOP for the Journal du Dimanche confirms this impression of a president much more comfortable with external affairs, a trend already noticeable during the broadcast: among all the topics discussed, 54% of the French found him most convincing on “the role of France in international affairs”. Just after the theme of extending the duration of pension contributions! This appreciation can always be tempered by the figures of other surveys, notably those conducted by Le Parisien where just over a third of respondents only credit the head of state on French engagement in Afghanistan and relations with China. This percentage should be relativized by the difficulty for a large part of the population to identify with subjects they most often – wrongly – consider distant from their everyday reality. How else to understand the part of the same respondents – another third – who do not express an opinion? On the thorny issue of the French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt, Nicolas Sarkozy also managed, according to a survey by Le Figaro, to get 63% of French people to approve his willingness and persistent attempts to secure her release. Not to mention the question raised by a journalist about possible discussions with Hamas, rejected in principle by a more presidential than ever Nicolas Sarkozy: it’s impossible, the head of state essentially stated, to engage in dialogue in his capacity as a leader with a group of people who want to destroy another state on the planet.
Current events notwithstanding, the position adopted by the Elysée on restarting dialogue between the representative of Tibet in exile and the Chinese authorities – a clever mix of messages sent to Beijing and uncertainty maintained about attendance at the opening of the Olympic games – could have borne fruit. One out of two French people agree with this presidential approach, according to a survey conducted by Le Figaro. As for the commitment of our soldiers in Afghanistan, the foiled assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai can only add grist to the Elysée’s mill in its determination to support the international coalition’s efforts against the Taliban. There is no need to insist further on the necessarily positive repercussions of the Ponant episode.
A principle of the Fifth Republic, the exercise of sovereignty – the power, in its absolute form, to make peace or declare war – always suits the head of the executive. Not to mention recent developments which could be favorable to him: to the generally misunderstood intricacies of global diplomacy on politics, economics, industrial and commercial interests, now adds, a sad novelty of the 21st century whose strategic dimension states pretend to rediscover, food security. One cannot be closer to the French.
While waiting for the French presidency of the European Union, a field that will undoubtedly closely associate presidential image and foreign policy, Nicolas Sarkozy will also have to decide on a particularly delicate dossier at the very heart of this issue: the decision he will make on the second aircraft carrier will test, whether he likes it or not, his presidential credibility.
