Sarkozy to lead France's comeback on world stage

Paris - A myriad of foreign policy challenges await new French president Nicolas Sarkozy when he takes office next week, from freeing a French hostage in Afghanistan to relaunching Europe and enlisting the United States in the fight against global warming.

Sarkozy, a rightwinger who has unabashedly praised the United States, is expected to strengthen France's role in Europe and in international fora with an active diplomacy that will reach out to Berlin and Washington.

The son of a Hungarian immigrant, he will succeed President Jacques Chirac whose 12-year tenure was marked by France's opposition to the US war on Iraq and the rejection of the EU constitution in a referendum in 2005.

"Tonight, France is back in Europe," Sarkozy proclaimed late Sunday in a victory speech delivered after he trounced Socialist Segolene Royal in an election dominated by debate on domestic issues, mainly economic reform.

He also held out a friendly hand to Washington, saying France's "American friends can always count on our friendship" even though the two may "think differently".

But Sarkozy also served notice that France would confront Washington over its refusal to adopt the Kyoto treaty on climate change, saying that global warming threatened "all of humanity."

"France will make this battle it's first battle," said the 52-year-old former interior minister.

But the most pressing issue facing Sarkozy after he moves into the Elysee on May 16 will be the hostage situation in Afghanistan where a French aid worker has been held by the Taliban since April 3.

The Taliban are demanding that France withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the release of Terre d'Enfance (A World For Our Children) aid worker Eric Damfreville.

France won the release on April 28 of another aid worker after Chirac personally telephoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai several times and dispatched the foreign ministry's director to Kabul to oversee the negotiations.

Winning the release of the aid worker could prove to the first show by Sarkozy of France's clout beyond its borders.

"He will want to project the image of being active in international affairs," said Pascal Boniface, director of the Institute of International Strategic Studies in Paris.

Boniface said the hostage situation in Afghanistan would be the first diplomatic test for the new head of state.

Sarkozy's first destination abroad after taking office will be to Berlin to re-launch the Franco-German engine of Europe and to Brussels for talks on the way forward for the European Union.

He campaigned on a promise to break the logjam over French rejection of the EU constitution by submitting a mini-treaty to parliament that will allow the EU institutions to function.

"He will want France to be one of the most assertive countries in the EU," said Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform in London.

"But he will want to work closely with London and Berlin because he does believe that the big countries should dominate the EU," he said.

Grant said France's role in Europe will be enhanced if Sarkozy succeeds in pushing through economic reform that could bring down unemployment, currently one of the highest in Europe, and stimulate growth, also lagging behind other euro-zone economies.

"As long as the French economy remains the sick man of Europe, France will be an obstacle to integration and allowing the EU generally to move forward," he said.

Sarkozy has also said he will travel to Africa to lay the groundwork for new relations that experts say could re-define the conditions for the three billions euros in annual bilateral aid.

"He will have to compensate for his tough message on immigration with development aid if he wants to succeed in having an active policy," said Boniface.

Sarkozy has said he will tighten immigration, notably by restricting conditions that allow immigrants to be reunited with their families in France.

Agence France Presse

Sarkozy victory spells downturn in France-Russia relations: analysts

Moscow - A surprising delay in an official Kremlin reaction to the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy is a sign that French-Russian relations could take a turn for the worse under France's new pro-US president, analysts said Tuesday.

Almost two days after Sarkozy's dramatic win, the Kremlin on Tuesday had still not issued any official congratulatory message, making Russia the only major world power not to have done so.

Analysts said the silence was a statement in itself.

"Congratulations from one head of state to another are more than just official protocol, they are a sign of personal relations," said Yevgeny Volk of the Heritage Foundation in Moscow.

"Relations with Nicolas Sarkozy are seen without optimism. We can't expect the same sympathy as there was with Jacques Chirac," France's outgoing president, Volk said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin joined Chirac and former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in opposing the US-led war in Iraq and the three leaders were seen as having friendly relations.

Some analysts interpreted as a potential major hitch in French-Russian relations the fact that Sarkozy has expressed strongly pro-US views at a time when Russia is taking an increasingly hard line against Washington.

"The Kremlin doesn't know how to react, it's not sure and it wants to work out if Sarkozy is really pro-American," said Alexei Malashenko, a political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Centre.

In a possible further sign of scepticism about the victory, news reports about the French election on Russian state television stations have focused coverage on relatively small anti-Sarkozy protests in the streets of Paris.

Russian newspapers also voiced concern on Tuesday about the future of relations between Paris and Moscow, pointing to critical statements about Putin and the war in Chechnya made by Sarkozy.

The pro-Kremlin Izvestia daily said lawmaker Pierre Lellouche, one of Sarkozy's advisers, was "particularly malicious towards Russia" and that his potential appointment as foreign minister would be "catastrophic."

But analysts also pointed to strong economic ties between France and Russia and said these were likely to remain unchanged under Sarkozy.

"Economic relations are not going to change between France and Russia," said Boris Kagarlitsky, director of the Institute of Globalisation and Social Movements.

"France will remain a major investor in Russia and Russia will continue to provide raw materials to France."

Volk agreed with that view, saying: "In the economic sphere, the dynamic is not going to change but Sarkozy is going to be firmer on energy security in Europe, like (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel."

Merkel has voiced doubts about the reliability of Russian oil and gas supplies to Europe amid European concern over increasing dependence on energy from Russia.

Agence France Presse

Protesters gather on the Place de la Bastille in central Paris to demonstrate against the presidential election victory of right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday night. Clashes took place on the Place where about 5,000 supporters of the defeated Socialist candidate Segolene Royal had gone to await the election results. Up to 300 rioters, some of whom tied scarves around their faces, made running attacks with bottles and stones on riot police who responded with baton charges.//AFP

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