TONY Blair can relax. His record in the missed opportunity stakes is being effortlessly broken — by Nicolas Sarkozy. Two years ago, Sarkozy appeared to be a man of immense promise. Part Jewish, part Hungarian, he was an outsider in a political culture which had come to be dominated by a sclerotic, self-regarding clique. It seemed a good idea to have a president of France who had not been at l’Ecole Nationale D’Administration.
Shortly after his election, he paid a gawping visit to Versailles, giving the impression to those who showed him round that this was a first visit. He was shown some apartments which are normally occupied by the prime minister. Gawping was replaced by cupidity. “I’ll have this,” he announced.
Soon afterward, there was another visit, to the president of Italy. During a half-hour meeting, President Sarkozy’s mobile rang four times. On each occasion, he answered it and had a conversation. So the president of Austria should feel honored. During his session with Sarkozy, there were only two mobile phone calls.
French is the language of diplomacy; the French also believe that their politesse sets the standard for diplomatic elegance. Sometimes, this is carried to excess.
Napoleon once described Talleyrand, the greatest of French diplomatists, as “a piece of shit in a silk stocking”. Talleyrand merely expressed regret that such a great man should have been so badly brought up. Those exchanges were politeness itself in comparison to the sulphurous comments on Sarkozy’s telephone habits. In the preparations for his state visit to the UK, the diplomatic services of France and Britain were united as never before by a shared anxiety. Could the president be trusted to keep his mobile switched off? If it rang during a state banquet and he answered it, what would Prince Philip do? Wars have resulted from lesser outrages.
It is, however, untrue that all the president’s energies are devoted to Carla Bruni. In addition to rudeness and frivolousness, the president infuriates his staff by hyperactivity.
That might seem to be a good quality, and so it could be, on one condition: That it were deployed in pursuit of a strategy. But there is no strategy. Sarkozy has been president for nearly two years. We still do not know what he believes in or what are his plans. He makes it up as he goes along. A despairing French diplomat threw up his arms and summarized the Sarkozy regime: “This is no longer the Fifth Republic. It is Louis Quinze and Madame du Barry.”
To British observers, French politics seems paradoxical. On the one hand, French politicians can rely on an almost infinite tolerance for the peccadillos of private life. Mistresses, illegitimate children, bribes, diamonds from African dictators: The voters merely shrug their shoulders.
The lack of indignation extends to activities which would strike us as seriously criminal. The relationship between France’s foreign aid programs in Francophone Africa and subsidies for political parties — and politicians — is interesting. In Parisian political circles, it is widely accepted that President Mitterrand commissioned at least two murders.
Yet this latitude does not extend to the business of government. There, the French feel no obligation to give their consent to measures they disapprove of. There is always an appeal from the Assemblée Nationale to the high court of the streets. Even De Gaulle faced a near-insurrection. Jacques Chirac was a much easier target. His feeble and intermittent attempts at reform were regularly disrupted, and ultimately deterred, by protests and demonstrations.
As President Chirac approached his unlamented retirement, a former British ambassador to France gave his verdict; “He has not done anything”. (At least he has not been accused of murder.) But on present trends, Sarkozy will make Chirac look like a statesman.
