NICOLAS SARKOZY prepared the ground ahead of his entry into the race for the French presidency at the weekend by outlining policies aimed at rallying the right-wing vote.
Mr Sarkozy is expected to declare this week as a candidate for re-election in the spring. He said he wanted to make the jobless work for benefits and was opposed to gay marriage and euthanasia.
In an interview with the right-wing daily Le Figaro, Mr Sarkozy gave the first indication of his strategy to win back the “soft” National Front voters who shifted to him in 2007 but have since sent the far-right party’s support to almost 20 per cent, according to opinion polls.
“Work, responsibility, authority. I recognise myself more than ever in this formulation,” he said, adding that his “values for France” were work, education, family and laïcité (secularism).
With unemployment at a 12-year high, Mr Sarkozy said he would tighten access to jobless benefits so that people could no longer decline offers or training after a certain period out of work. If unions opposed the idea, he would put it to a referendum – a route he has never pursued as president. Mr Sarkozy would also restrict the rights of immigrants in France.
“After a five-year term, I am more convinced than ever before that we need to reward working and heighten our regard for it,” he said. “This is not just saying that you need to work in order to succeed, but that work is a value in and of itself, necessary for individuals to define themselves and for the cohesion of society.”
Opinion polls put Mr Sarkozy in second place, behind his socialist rival François Hollande, with a gap of up to 60-40 in Mr Hollande’s favour in a hypothetical second-round play-off. The National Front’s Marine Le Pen is within five percentage points of Mr Sarkozy’s first round vote, according to most polls, and she hopes to emulate her father, Jean Marie Le Pen, who shocked the political establishment by qualifying for the run-off in 2002.
Ms Le Pen has said she is having trouble gathering the 500 signatures from local mayors she needs to appear on the ballot paper, but opponents accuse her of bluffing to enhance her profile.
With the first round of voting on April 22nd, Mr Sarkozy was widely expected to declare his candidacy shortly before the nominations deadline in early March, allowing him to remain above the fray and burnish his statesman credentials. Unease among his party colleagues caused by Mr Hollande’s consistency in the polls appears to have resulted in a change of tack. The declaration is now expected as early as this week.
Political opponents say Mr Sarkozy has been campaigning unofficially for months. They criticised his joint television appearance with German chancellor Angela Merkel and a separate prime time TV interview last month as blatant electioneering.
Once he becomes a candidate, he will have to respect laws that limit the amount of time presidential candidates are allowed to appear on television and speak on the radio.
The cost of his regular public meetings in the French provinces would be charged to his UMP party.
Reacting to speculation that Mr Sarkozy may soon declare, Mr Hollande said he was “totally indifferent”.
“Let him do what seems right to him. He has already used the resources of the state quite a lot to campaign. If he wants to use them a little longer, that’s up to him,” said Mr Hollande.
On the president’s interview, the socialist said: “The language he used, the words he employed, suggest he wants to go after those voters who are more inclined today towards Marine Le Pen.”
Speculation has been rife in Paris that one of Mr Sarkozy’s first steps as a candidate will be to apologise for failing to keep pre-election pledges and for decisions he took early in his term that badly damaged his standing. His campaign has to reckon with the personal dislike many voters have taken to the president, which has contributed to his popularity ratings stagnating at about 30 per cent for the past two years.
He is expected to present himself as the most competent, experienced figure to steer France through the crisis by boosting competitiveness, cutting the deficit and stimulating growth.