Sarkozy pledges to protect those most hurt by crisis

FRENCH PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy delivered an hour-long pep talk to his compatriots last night, exhorting France to “take the lead so we will not fall behind” when the economic crisis ends.

While extolling “merit, effort and success”, Mr Sarkozy promised to protect those most hurt by the crisis and defended his decision not to replace one in two retiring civil servants or raise taxes on the wealthy.

It was Mr Sarkozy’s third major address on the crisis in six months. In Toulon last September, he promised to “moralise capitalism” and foresaw next week’s G20 summit in London. In Douai in December, he outlined his €26 billion economic recovery plan, which is based on government investment.

Mr Sarkozy chose Saint-Quentin, in the industrial wasteland of Picardy, for last night’s speech. It is also the place where he launched his presidential campaign, and the home of Xavier Bertrand, the new head of the right-wing UMP.

The choice of venue and Mr Sarkozy’s combative tone indicate he is thinking ahead to European elections in June, the 2010 regional elections and his own re-election campaign in 2012.

The French public has been scandalised by news of executives who continue to receive bonuses and golden parachutes. Yesterday, Libération newspaper revealed that Thierry Morin, the outgoing chief executive of car-parts maker Valeo, which is receiving state aid and firing 1,600 workers, is leaving the company with €3.2 million.

This revelation followed an attempt by four top executives at Société Générale to award themselves 320,000 stock options once the bank reimburses €1.7 billion in state aid.

Though Mr Sarkozy did not mention Valeo or SocGen, his message was clear: “There must be no more golden parachutes. There must be no bonuses, no distribution of free shares or stock options in a company that is receiving state aid, and which lays off employees.”

Attempting to see the bright side of a recession that is expected to shrink the French economy by 3 per cent this year, Mr Sarkozy said it could “shake our old ways of seeing and doing things, make us free again to imagine, to act and to invent our future”.

Mr Sarkozy vaunted his own handling of the crisis: “France was the first to say she would not let a single bank fail,” he noted. “I said not a single depositor would lose a centime. France kept her word.

“Unlike other countries, we’ve had only one plan to save banks, because it was the right plan. And because it was the right one, all Europe adopted its principles . . . We acted to make Europe move. We acted to make the world move.”

The French leader said critics wanted him to nationalise French banks last autumn, but “in times of crisis you don’t lose your sangfroid”.

Mr Sarkozy reiterated the cash payments and tax breaks for the poor he announced last month, which will cost the state €2.6 billion. “These measures are not handouts, for handouts are not the solution,” he said.

“These measures are justice for those who suffer the most, and who are not those who demonstrate the most. My duty is to be attuned to discreet and humble suffering.”

Last night’s speech was an indirect but resounding “no” to up to three million French people who demonstrated against Mr Sarkozy’s handling of the crisis on March 19th.

Mr Sarkozy announced the appointment of “reindustrialisation commissioners” in areas where large numbers of jobs are being lost.

“The state cannot save all companies, but each worker has the right to a solution, either a job, or training, but in any case to an income.

“No one will be left by the roadside. No one will be abandoned.”