sarkozy

Before the poll, Mr Sarkozy had insisted that this was a regional vote that would have only regional consequences.

He said he had Sarkozy's full support and would not resign; politicians attacking him were confusing homosexuality and paedophilia.

Mr Sarkozy is the eighth leader of a eurozone country to be replaced or swept from office in little over a year.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared to be backpedaling on his hard line, as anti-French sentiment is mushrooming in Beijing.

Sarkozy said the most important element was the plan "to create a real economic government for the eurozone" .

The office of the French presidency says President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Cecilia, have divorced by mutual consent.

Mr. Sarkozy said the response by his conservative government will be investment.

He recently spent a week touring China, having, like Mr Sarkozy, travelled for the privilege of a hearing.

France's Nicolas Sarkozy was the only one who insisted last week that the crisis spelt the demise of "Anglo-Saxon capitalism" .

If the charges prove true, they may likely end any prospects of him running against French President Nicolas Sarkozy next year.

And though he received less (and less fawning) coverage, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, proved to be a bit of a seducer himself.

Still, Sarkozy's wardrobe on his foreign trips does not seem to have affected his domestic popularity.

Thus Nicolas Sarkozy a few years ago, when crafting the image of a crusading politician ready to take aim at France's elite.

The media [started portraying] Sarkozy as a vulgar, insecure celebrity-worshipper focused only on himself and his place in the limelight.

Most startling of all, the French seem to think that Mr Sarkozy will win next year whether they want him to or not.

After meetings with car bosses, Mr Sarkozy announced triumphantly in February that he had got his way.

Sarkozy, needless to say, did not walk anywhere but to the photo session, to have his picture taken with Obama.

Cecilia Sarkozy was a smiling figure at her husband's inauguration in May as she stood with the children.

In much of the world, President Nicolas Sarkozy enjoys a reputation for being something of a diplomatic dynamo.

Mr Sarkozy's overriding objective, at least before the crisis, was to raise France's trend rate of growth by a percentage point.

But Sarkozy said the meeting would be held in New York, possibly by the end of November.

A waxwork of French President Nicolas Sarkozy gets a few final touches before going on display at Madame Tussaud's in London.

Sarkozy even pledged to walk out of the summit if it failed to produce serious regulatory commitments.

Mr. Sarkozy, your efforts may be sincere; you are, after all, only trying to protect the criteria for what makes one "French" enough.

Iran was one of many international issues that dominated Mr. Bush's talks with French President Nicholas Sarkozy.

This week, however, a presidential adviser talked of an "organised plot" to destabilise Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni.

Mr. Sarkozy said he was trying to become a calmer, less highly-strung person, according to people who were present.

Yet Mr Sarkozy took a bet that there was a silent majority prepared to accept change, however much they disliked it.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said it would not receive "a single cent" until it had cleared up the uncertainty.

So far, Sarkozy's actions in court have had the apparently unintended consequence of turning the voodoo doll into something of a cult item.

In their past encounters, Sarkozy has also intimated that Mandelson should come and see him in the Elysee Palace.

Mr. Sarkozy said he supported President Obama's plans, but he said the G-20 was the right forum to reach coordinated financial regulation.

Mr Sarkozy, himself from the Gaullist family but keen to improve France's ties with America, is trying to turn this logic on its head.

With his poll numbers at last beginning to rise from record lows, Mr Sarkozy is in no mood to make unpopular spending cuts.

On a visit to Turkey, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the violence by pro-Gadhafi forces is unacceptable and should not go unpunished.

Like Obama, Sarkozy arrived with broad support; but he began to plummet just months into his presidency.

In response, Mr Sarkozy told the executives to support greater rule of law on the web in such a way that innovation would not be harmed.

Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, said he would consult European Union leaders on a possible boycott of the opening ceremony.

An ambulance driver outside Ajdabiya made the point with his hands: "Sarkozy, " he said while flashing a thumbs-up.

With the left in triumphant mood, and just two years left before the 2012 presidential election, how much trouble is Mr Sarkozy in?

And yet Mr Sarkozy has bolstered the momentum of his reforms thanks to three largely unrelated factors.

Mr Sarkozy said the measures will form the basis for an agreement on fiscal governance at a European Union summit on Friday in Brussels.

Mr Sarkozy's prime minister Franç ois Fillon said in June that he would come up with a way out of the impasse, but nothing happened.

For the latest developments in the case Kahn, President of the French UMP, the current French President Nicolas Sarkozy did not comment.

It is not hard to see why even Western finance ministers with a low opinion of Mr. Sarkozy have rushed to anoint her.

French television images showed that Sarkozy was on a piece of metal over the barrier, trying to greet the crowd.

The move was opposed by the party of President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been trying to ease tense ties with Beijing.

France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who chaired the summit, said he would visit Moscow and Tbilisi to check on Russian compliance.

Sarkozy said those calling for all nuclear power plants to be shut down in the wake of the Fukushima crisis should be more realistic.

An appeals court said the doll was an "offence against the personal dignity" of Mr Sarkozy, but it would be disproportionate to ban it.

That said, the prospects for the French economy are undoubtedly better under Mr Sarkozy than they would have been under his opponent.

Sarkozy told his aides that Cecilia was "the only non-negotiable part" of his career.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's unpopularity owes much to his failure to boost it as he promised.

All of which seems to have led to a bottoming out of Mr Sarkozy's approval ratings, which had been in free fall over the past two years.

It was mad that the British and Germans did not rush to back Mr Sarkozy when he was bullied over the Dalai Lama.

Mr Sarkozy seems to think similarly, calling for a multilateral approach to the monetary system.

Nicolas Sarkozy, France's ever-helpful president, had to call a few places personally and ask them to open.

German chancellor Angela Merkel and often-outspoken President Nicolas Sarkozy of France did not reveal a preference before the meeting.

The Germans hope that Mr Brown, like Mr Sarkozy, will be ready to push a new treaty through parliament, without a referendum.

But Sarkozy also said the Palestinians were mistaken to seek full recognition as a state at the security council.

And Sarkozy said the NATO campaign would continue until "there is no longer any threat to the Libyan people. "

This week's declaration from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was an unpromising start.

Americans are right that such advances are imperilled when leaders like Nicolas Sarkozy of France say Turks have no place in the EU.

With his hard line, Mr Sarkozy seems to be behind a ban, although he will now await the outcome of the parliamentary mission.

In his campaign, Mr Sarkozy was as demonised in the left-wing media as he was given an easy ride by the right.

Using tanks and planes that are easily targeted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy's planes is not the only way of fighting.

Instead, comments one EU diplomat, Mr Sarkozy seems to see Europe as a backdrop for his own bilateral deal-making.

Mr Sarkozy's most controversial appointment has been that of Henri Proglio as the head of EDF, a state-owned utility.

But like Mr Sarkozy he seems ready to put future interests first, at least for the time being.

Sarkozy said he was determined to see the law passed and accused the opposition of parliamentary manoeuvring.

If he is able to win this battle, Sarkozy will be able to press forward with a series of reforms, each begetting the next.

His reputation as a womanizer did not seem to hurt his chances; he was ahead of President Nicolas Sarkozy in the polls.

Mr. Sarkozy's spokesman later appeared to backtrack somewhat, saying 'there is no threat' to leave the summit.

How excellent it would be if Mr Sarkozy's sweet talk this week brought not just more soldiers for Afghanistan but a reversal of that policy.

Mr. Sarkozy's aides scrambled later to say he had been referring to arrests among the broader Islamic movement, not the London bombers.

Why did Mr Sarkozy say that he would not appeal, when in criminal trials it is up to the public prosecutor?

'If the market was the solution to all problems and was never wrong, then why are we in such a situation? ' asked Mr. Sarkozy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the Greeks would get no more euro-zone rescue aid until the question is answered.

Fran? ois Goulard, from Mr Sarkozy's ruling UMP party asked why it had taken so long for the president to realise his error.

For the moment, President Nicolas Sarkozy has no such broader austerity plan. But he will need one soon.

In a conversation with President Obama last week, President Sarkozy said about Mr Netanyahu "I can't look at him any more; he's a liar. "

Dominique de Villepin, a Gaullist rival to President Nicolas Sarkozy, said France had "lived up to its ideals" .

President Sarkozy said some mothers would be able to receive a full pension even if they had taken years out of work to look after children.

The proposed overhaul is a major test of Mr. Sarkozy's capacity to govern, less than two years before the next presidential elections.

The proposals mooted this week by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy gave little indication that they are ready to do so.

The next leader in the crosshairs was the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who was up for re-election the following April.

Mr Sarkozy tends to propose only what he knows Mrs Merkel will accept, such as the idea of a European tax on financial transactions.

Sarkozy changed the French constitution to allow himself to give a "state of the union" address to both houses of Parliament at once.

For Mr Sarkozy economic government would be a means of extending French influence and maintaining parity with Germany.

When particularly heavy rioting broke out in 2005, the then interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, imposed a state of emergency.

Yet Mr Sarkozy faces an imminent political humiliation, as disillusioned voters snub him in regional elections.

And Mr Sarkozy has no time for left-bank intellectuals "so sure of what they think while drinking coffee on the Boulevard Saint-Germain" .

Over the Christmas period Ms Bruni-Sarkozy visited a shrine in India and told a Muslim cleric that she was praying for another son.

The company President Nicolas Sarkozy is keeping these days is unlikely to help reverse his flaccid approval rating.

If all this hadn't happened, he would most likely have been favoured to beat Nicolas Sarkozy in next year's presidential election.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said the two-day summit was the EU's last chance to save the euro.

President Sarkozy said he would double emergency food aid to roughly $100 million this year for poor countries.

Also, French President Nicolas Sarkozy wanted to get his political rival out of France for a while.

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, declared that France and Britain had never been so close.

The voters do not blame this entirely on Mr Sarkozy, but it does not help to inspire confidence in him.

The case is highly unusual because Mr Sarkozy is one of 40 plaintiffs in the trial and his lawyer will be able to cross-examine witnesses.

French officials will doubtless protest that the swaggering Mr Sarkozy had not intended any slight.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy had announced a plan to help educate children in Africa.

Cameron and Sarkozy: a bit of a bond?

And, although Mr Sarkozy has embraced the case for change, his instincts are not at all those of a free-market Thatcherite.

Mr Sarkozy wants a levy known as a Tobin Tax to be applied to every financial transaction.

Abdallahsaid France may need reforms, but he does not like the president's methods. He believes Mr. Sarkozy should negotiate more.

Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy would also have to be persuaded against it as well.

With the slogan "Another France is possible" , Ms Aubry is taking aim at Mr Sarkozy's weak spots, stressing the need for values and respect.

Both would hope for better Franco-American relations, which soured after 2003 (though Mr Sarkozy has no plans yet for an official trip).

Most obviously, the members do not trust the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to be chairman of the club.

Sarkozy warned on Monday that the E. U. would act in unison against Russian if its troops do not pull out of Georgia.

Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, said he could not rule out boycotting the opening ceremony for the games.

'I'm morphing into a German Sarkozy, ' she said, according to aides who were present.

Russia's defense minister Friday said the withdrawal negotiated with French President Sarkozy is complete.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the Beijing summit had raised expectations for solid results when the leaders meet in Washington.

The executives said the decision about which to adopt was being thrashed out between Mr Sarkozy and Ms Merkel.

For a start Mr Sarkozy, unlike Jacques Chirac in 1995, has entered office with a strong electoral mandate for change.

There was a brief period between klauses. Don't forget that, uh, weekend with sarkozy When he made us go to euro disney. oh!

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, proposed talks within a year-long timetable.

Perhaps mindful of this, Mr Sarkozy has softened some of his language about radical change in recent weeks.

Mr Sarkozy has said his party will fire any candidate who tries to make a local electoral pact with the Front.

Mr. Sarkozy said he wanted Europe to set an example in regulating banks, hedge funds, tax havens and executives' pay.

The website aims to publicise Bruni's charity work as well as giving the world a glimpse of her life in the Elysee Palace with Sarkozy.

With Mr Sarkozy's popularity low, public opinion seems to be shifting.

Mr. Sarkozy, who was in Brussels at a European Union meeting, did not comment on the demonstrations.

The mercurial, hyperactive Mr Sarkozy considers the German chancellor to be impossibly hesitant and legalistic.

It is not an obvious choice of dress for a first lady at a state dinner but then not all first ladies have Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's advantages.

As Nicolas Sarkozy's prime minister, he's been seen as a safe pair of hands, a calming influence on the impetuous president.

To France's delighted president, Nicolas Sarkozy, this was the birth of a European Monetary Fund.

It may be that, at a time of crisis, Mr Sarkozy seeks inspiration from the man who presided over several.

He said Sarkozy had given the order to attack after negotiations had broken down and the pirates threatened to execute the hostages.

Sarkozy said France was known to be "considerably ahead" of other countries in terms of atomic power technology and safety.

Mr. Sarkozy told reporters that obviously did not mean all the problems in the Middle East were resolved.

Sarkozy briskly snapped at the man and then moved on, continued to smile and shake hands with others along his path, saying " merci . "

On October 18th President Nicolas Sarkozy called ministers to a crisis meeting to work out a strategy for guaranteeing petrol supplies.

"There has been a spectacular conceptual rapprochement between Merkel and Sarkozy, " insists a French official.

If Mr Chirac looked upon America with a mixture of envy and disdain, Mr Sarkozy appears genuinely fond of the place and its people.

President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute to Paulin on Sunday, saying "he made design into an art form" .

At that point, President Sarkozy can ill afford the sort of cynical public opinion that, in 2007, he promised to turn around.

Now, for the first time, the spectre of a one-term presidency has begun to hover menacingly over France's current leader, Nicolas Sarkozy.

A: President Sarkozy is coming to China to attend the international monetary seminar. Chinese leaders will meet with him.

But it was a symbolic knock for Mr Sarkozy just seven months before a presidential election, and it has crushed morale in his party.

Members of Mr Sarkozy's UMP party accuse him of being bewitched by his new spouse and forgetting his own camp.

Third, Mr Sarkozy is ready to confront France's bastions of conservatism.

Nicolas Sarkozy arrived at the Group of 20 summit having said: "The all-powerful market that is always right is finished. "

One of Sarkozy's first major moves as president was to push through what amounted to a 10 percent tax cut for France's wealthiest people.

Mr. Sarkozy, speaking through a translator, called for a swift international response to the crisis, starting in New York.

Yet despite his often strained ties with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Sarkozy seems to find it hard to resist taunting her.

"The president of the United States is right in saying that protectionism and closing one's borders is a catastrophe, " Sarkozy said.

The only other modern French president to have lost popularity so quickly was Mr. Sarkozy's predecessor, Jacques Chirac.

In France, aides to President Nicolas Sarkozy point to the rising cost of food and fuel as the key to his slump in the polls.

And despite the recent display of Franco-German unity at the G20 gathering in London, she neither trusts nor likes France's Nicolas Sarkozy.

The consequences of all this for President Sarkozy are likely to be limited.

Sarkozy and his new wife arrived in London on March 26 and began his state visit to Britain.

Nicolas Sarkozy talked early in his presidency of the need for Europe to reach out to countries on the Mediterranean's southern rim.

Mr Sarkozy seems ready for a fight on this and promises to continue with other reforms as well.

President Nicolas Sarkozy opened France's first military facilities in the Persian Gulf as part of a realignment of its overseas bases.

Both President Sarkozy of France and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, speak of a Europe that "protects" .

It appeared to take advantage of loopholes in the Medvedev-Sarkozy peace plan to prolong its presence in Georgia.

Mr Sarkozy managed to pose, at least in the eyes of French public opinion, as both peacemaker and financial saviour.

Turning to her life as first lady, Bruni-Sarkozy said she had no intention of ditching her singing career.

For its part, Mr Sarkozy's government is hoping to keep a lid on protests and a grip on petrol supplies until the end of the week.

As well as nudging Berlusconi off the stage, Merkel had to smooth out her volatile relationship with France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

And in August Mr Sarkozy pushed through a law obliging public-transport workers to negotiate some form of minimum service during a strike.

Sarkozy has warned the United States will veto the Middle East into a "cycle of violence" risk.

Such a switch should give Mr Sarkozy the popular support he needs to stick to his guns.

Mr. Sarkozy and the rest of his party should follow these examples and stop their shameless exploitation of intolerance for political gain.

As he enters the second half of his five-year term, President Nicolas Sarkozy will remain unpopular in the polls.

When he was elected, Sarkozy vowed to be transparent about his health, with regular bulletins.

The French prime minister, Dominique de Villepin is said to have a nemesis in his own Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

On this front, at least, Mr Sarkozy has won some points by getting Mrs Merkel to accept his call for economic government.

Sarkozy's advocates note that it wasn't a direct election; a sort of Electoral College chooses the French Senate.

With European leaders around him tottering, Mr Sarkozy is not about to embark on unpopular structural reform of the welfare state.

World leaders have struggled to agree an approach to pay, with Mr Sarkozy finding little support for his proposal of a bonus cap.

"They said you wouldn't come, " Mr Sarkozy told a crowd his camp put at 150, 000 but which appeared to be less than half that size.

Fadela Amara, a Muslim ex-minister in Nicolas Sarkozy's first government, once called the burqa a "prison" ; now she seems to be silent.

Sarkozy defended himself by arguing that Qaddafi needed to be rewarded for his recent gestures toward the West.

Mr Sarkozy can no doubt bank, as ever human hair wigs, on help from party splits and personal rivalries.

A French court ordered Ryanair to pay symbolic damages of one euro to Sarkozy and 60, 000 euros to his wife.

Until now, Mr Sarkozy has kept such a tight grip on his party that any such doubts were seldom voiced within it.

WITH his poll numbers at near-record lows, President Nicolas Sarkozy does not have much to be thankful for these days.

Mr Sarkozy conceded that there should be a more balanced division of labour with his prime minister.

Hence the 200-odd businessmen whom Mr Sarkozy invited to Nice, a first for this sort of summit.

Freshly back from his trip to China, Mr Sarkozy set the tone for the hard- line position he intends to adopt towards the rioters.

THERE was a time when Nicolas Sarkozy relished crisis management.

As EU president, Sarkozy said he was contemplating boycotting the Olympics, although he attended in the end.

All the same, as Mr Sarkozy has lamented, Paris seems to lack London's dynamism.

A spokesman for Mr. Sarkozy said the allegations were 'totally false. '

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have hammered out a common position on the euro debt crisis.

The first test is whether Mr Sarkozy is willing to see Club Med as more than a scheme to burnish French glory.

Mr. Trichet's appeal, delivered with customary sangfroid, led to a quarrel with his volatile fellow Frenchman, Mr. Sarkozy.

In some ways, Mr Sarkozy is a prisoner of his own impulsiveness , as well as of his tendency to over-personalise diplomatic relations.

Although he claims to have backing for this idea from Germany and Japan, even Mr Sarkozy admitted this week that it faces "big enemies" .

Yet unlike France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, Ms Merkel has no big plans to achieve them.

Mr Sarkozy wants the police and state prosecutors to take over the magistrates' role, as in many Anglophone countries.

Judged by his own standards, Mr Sarkozy's first year has been disappointing.

The most recent was Mr Sarkozy's appointment of Henri Proglio, an industrialist and friend, to run EDF, a state-controlled energy group.

In his first three years, Mr Sarkozy did not hold a single France-Africa summit.

The presidency has no comment, but recent pictures of Sarkozy are revealing.

Mr Sarkozy tried to shrug all this off, having reshuffled his team only recently.

Hence the 50-year defence and security co-operation treaty signed this week in London by David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy.

The position was discussed last night by President Sarkozy of France and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, at a meeting in Paris.

As well as setting up the FSI, Mr Sarkozy plans to exert tighter control over companies in which the state still has stakes.

"He was pointing at me, " DeWitt said, adding that Sarkozy even grabbed his long-lens camera.

Yet if Mr Sarkozy looks relatively better, he may soon find he needs to be. Unemployment is still rising.

Sarkozy has also relished using France's position in international institutions to burnish his own image as a statesman.

Mr Sarkozy seems to consider such incidents as froth, diverting attention from the real business of growth and jobs.

In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy warned of the risk of a "new cold war" days ago, but has not repeated the phrase.

Sarkozy not to attend the meeting, which took place at a gathering of Nobel Peace Prize winners in the Polish City, Gdansk.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, who chaired the summit, boasted of a "terrific fight" which French diplomacy had managed to finesse.

Throughout the euro crisis Mr Sarkozy has appeared alongside Ms Merkel at Franco-German summits to set policy for the entire euro zone.

others still that she sees Mr Sarkozy's interventionist zeal as a cynical ploy to boost his domestic poll ratings.

However, President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy miss out as the wedding is not classed as a full state occasion.

An exasperated Mr Sarkozy has had to take matters into his own hands, at one point holding talks with a magistrates' union without her.

He knew he would come under pressure on taxes, but brought no alternative offering to satisfy Mrs Merkel (if not Mr. Sarkozy).

Mr Sarkozy has told deputies that his cabinet reshuffle in the autumn would take account of irresponsible behaviour.

'I think I made an effort to understand her concerns, ' Mr. Sarkozy said at a joint press conference with Ms. Merkel in March 2008.

Sarkozy called for a "new economic government" that would be formed of the 17 euro zone government leaders.

Mr Sarkozy accepts that France might even learn a thing or two from America about entrepreneurship and job creation.

Hailing his guest as one of Europe's "great men" , Mr Sarkozy called on Europe to "aim high" , and not settle for a compromise figure.

Judging by his recent declarations, the centre-right Mr Sarkozy has taken a decidedly leftward turn.

"We are anxious to see him get to work so we can change the world with him, " President Sarkozy said.

Mr Sarkozy did not hesitate to upbraid his Greek and Italian colleagues.

Mr Sarkozy bores easily, tapping his feet, twitching or fiddling with his mobile phone when others speak.

Will this be enough to lift Mr Sarkozy from his record low level of popularity?

The currency of France, the Euro, is the currency of the islands and the Head of State is Nicholas Sarkozy, the President of France.

The president was meeting with Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. Barroso at Camp David Saturday to look for solutions to the global financial crisis.

At a news conference in January, Sarkozy revealed that the relationship was "serious" and hinted that wedding plans were in the works.

Mr. Trichet joined Ms. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy at their meeting in Berlin on Wednesday to press his case once more.

In recent months, in line with a more presidential tone, Mr Sarkozy has made more of an effort.

If Mr de Jean has a doubt about Mr Sarkozy, it is that he could "put everybody out on the street with strikes if he tries to reform" .

At a summit in Brussels, Nicolas Sarkozy said "solutions" would be found for those that had expressed concerns.

Mr Sarkozy will see all this as a great French victory.

Indeed, it is hard to see Mr Sarkozy taking a back seat after he hands the EU presidency to the Czechs.

Therefore, Sarkozy called Gaddafi "immediately and unreservedly" to comply with all requirements of the international community.

In fact, Indians were the only people sampled who rated Mr Bush more highly than they did Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy.

As Mr Sarkozy's luck would have it, in November France takes over the 12-monthly presidency of the G20, and in 2011 adds that of the G8.

Mr Sarkozy's mandate secures him electoral legitimacy and, at least in the short run, puts public opinion broadly on his side.

"This was an achievement in the Sarkozy's family success in France. "

In France, Nicolas Sarkozy, previously interior minister, will run the finance ministry and will also be responsible for industrial policy.

If not for electoral gain, some ask, how to explain Mr Sarkozy's zeal for military intervention in the name of a "universal conscience" ?

FOR six months, President Nicolas Sarkozy had been preparing the French for a new government.

Moreover, his London trip was not the first time that Mr Sarkozy has tried to seduce the French with an Anglo-Saxon foray.

Afterward, a Sarkozy spokesman said France would recognize the National Council as the 'legitimate representative of the Libyan people. '

With a mix of skill and luck, Mr Sarkozy has disposed of his rivals, one by one.

Not that that position was a mistake, says President Sarkozy, but the almost automatic anti-Americanism that accompanied it was.

Asked why EU leaders were still holding the Sunday meeting, the German official said: "That's a good question. Sarkozy wants one. "

But Sarkozy will have to work hard to turn his white paper into reality.

The word "Sarkozy" has actually become shorthand for foreign air attacks on Qaddafi's troops.