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Sarkozy's Stolen Victories

France Goes It Alone

By Romain Leick

Not even three months in office and French President Nicolas Sarkozy is already proving to be highly unpredictable. He claimed the credit for the release of the Bulgarian hostages and promptly offered Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi a nuclear power plant in return – much to the irritation of his European partners.

Nicolas Sarkozy is a man constantly on the move. He practically hops around in his suit. He shrugs his shoulders, jerks his head and raises his eyebrows. In his manner, he likens a bouncing ball, full of energy but completely unpredictable. Since his election in early May, the French president has been ricocheting through European diplomatic circles like an out-of-control comet.

Sarkozy is everywhere and, more importantly, constantly ahead of the curve -- particularly in France. He is the first French president to include several women from minority backgrounds in his cabinet and he has had no qualms about recruiting cabinet ministers from the ranks of his Socialist Party rivals. One day he appears in public with singer Barbara Streisand. The next he is pictured alongside the top riders in the Tour de France.

And he is shaking things up abroad too. At the G-8 summit of the world's most powerful leaders in the German seaside resort of Heiligendamm, he told US President George W. Bush that he would leave the summit unless Bush made a serious commitment to climate protection. The US president relented, and Sarkozy fêted himself as the knight in shining armor in the dispute over global warming.

At the European Union summit in Brussels in June, he convinced the stubborn Poles to support the simplified European Union treaty. German Chancellor and then-EU Council President Angela Merkel and her foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, may have done most of the legwork to bring about the agreement but Sarkozy behaved as if bringing Poland's ruling Kaczynski brothers on board was entirely his doing. The way Sarkozy described it, he was the one who had managed to rescue the EU from one of its many, great historical crises.

The small-statured Sarkozy has assumed the role of the great statesman. Slapping shoulders, patting backs and distributing kisses, he leaves the impression of success in his wake. His approach is allowing the French to breathe a collective sigh of relief. After many years of near-paralysis, the country is assuming the leadership of an increasingly lethargic EU.

This, at least, is the impression Sarkozy would like to make. His European partners can only look on in speechless astonishment as Sarkozy rushes ahead. The crowing of the Gallic rooster is replacing the European anthem as Europe acquires a leader who has shown himself willing to flaunt tradition. His will, it appears, is the road to success.

There is only one problem: Sarkozy's victories are stolen victories. He is steadily co-opting successes which, in some cases, others have spent years diligently preparing. His policies are intended to radiate dynamism and energy. But in reality, he jumps from one issue to the next -- with apparently no system or coherence, but with a great deal of fanfare and fireworks.

His European counterparts are witnessing this spectacle with increasing annoyance. Instead of being a team player, Sarkozy likes to take the lead, even when he has contributed little to the team's successes.

Sarkozys Suceed Where EU Negotiators Fail?

Sarkozy barely waited 24 hours after Libyan authorities had released the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor before turning up in Tripoli to meet with Libyan revolutionary leader Moammar Gadhafi. Was it not far too soon?

No, of course not, Sarkozy would say. Others were there before him, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. "Others came to Libya, even though the process to secure the release had not even begun yet. I said that I would go to Libya once the problem with the nurses had been resolved. It's better to arrive afterwards than before," the French president said, in a self-confident reversal of the actual sequence of events.

It was early last Tuesday morning, just before 6 a.m., when Claude Gueant's mobile phone rang. Gueant, the secretary-general at the presidential palace and one of the most loyal members of the president's staff was boarding a plane in Tripoli. "Hello Claude, how far are you?" his boss asked. "We are just boarding, Mr. President," Gueant responded. "Are the nurses with you? Would you connect me to them?"

A few journalists were listening in when Sarkozy congratulated Bulgarian nurse Kristiana Valtsheva on her release. "This is the most wonderful day of my life," Valtsheva said. It lasted all of a few seconds, but officials at the Elysee Palace in Paris quickly saw to it that the conversation was made public.

The French presidential plane -- with the words "Republique francaise" highly visible in the TV coverage -- brought the former prisoners to Sofia. They were accompanied by Sarkozy's wife Cecilia, who acted as the unofficial head of the negotiations. The French constitution does not define the status of the country's first lady, but her desire to play an important, behind-the-scenes role was obvious. Sarkozy praised the "courage, sincerity, humanity and panache" of his wife, who has contributed her fair share to making his life difficult. Had the Sarkozys somehow achieved something that EU negotiators had failed to do in more than three years? Sarkozy, in any event, had no qualms about claiming all the credit for himself.

The French president then signed five agreements during his visit with the Libyan dictator, the most important of which related to defense, weapons and nuclear energy. France plans to sell the Gadhafi regime its first nuclear power plant, which the Libyans will allegedly use for desalinization -- a process that consumes a great deal of energy but is not necessarily dependent on nuclear power.

The French president's astounding export agreement with Libya raised hackles in Berlin, triggering outrage across the entire political spectrum. Sarkozy's commitment is "highly questionable from a security standpoint," said Reinhard Bütikofer, the head of Germany's Green Party. He described Sarkozy's behavior as "reckless and tinged with nationalism," adding that the French move will only make it easier for Gadhafi to obtain nuclear weapons.