Sarkozy takes a holiday

By anyone's reckoning it has been a topsy-turvy first full year for the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his government ministers.

Now as they've all shut shop for the summer and headed off on their holidays, what better time to reflect on a year of French politics - Sarkozy style?

So sit back, relax and take a deep breath as we race through a non-too exhaustive (you'll probably be pleased to read) look back at some of the highs and lows.

"Work more to earn more"

When Sarkozy came to power in May last year, everyone knew there would be a change in style and substance.

He had the reputation for being in a hurry to get things done and was full of promises to modernise France's perceived archaic institutions, boost a flagging economy, put the country back to work and that all-important electoral pledge to increase the purchasing power of the average man and woman.

Sarkozy quickly set about business and by the end of June 2007, after parliamentary elections, had a government in place which broadly signalled the kind of changes he had promised.

Not only were there members of his ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) but there were Socialists and centre politicians too. There were also more women - almost complete parity in fact - and a couple of them from ethnic groups which better reflected the true character of French society.

This man clearly meant business, and he only gave his ministers the shortest of breaks before they were expected to begin the process of round table "consultations" with all those interested groups to come up with a whole raft of education, labour, environmental and economic reforms.

So what was one his very first measures that totally confused many and left some jaws heading to the floor? Remember that electoral pledge to increase purchasing power?

Well Sarkozy's answer was a fiscal package that included huge tax breaks for the wealthy by changing the inheritance laws. How that would help increase purchasing power was something of a mystery.

It would only be many months later after his ratings had plummeted and constant reports in the media had focussed on his inability to deliver on that pledge that Sarkozy would admit there had been an "error in communication."

The policy, he insisted in a 90-minute television interview in April, had not just increased the personal wealth of a few, but had allowed those with modest incomes to pass on more of their lifetime’s savings to their children by easing inheritance tax. Furthermore the fiscal “package” had been just that - a package.

It would, he explained, help put the country back to work by addressing the crippling economic restrictions of the 35-hour working week. Employees would now free to choose between claiming the days off to which they were entitled or being paid for the overtime they worked. It was the very essence of his much repeated mantra "work more to earn more."

Bling Bling

Almost from the day he entered the Elysée palace - the president's official residence - it was impossible to separate politics or policy from Sarkozy's personal life. Indeed the overriding preoccupation in France and abroad, became not so much what reforms he had planned or what he had in mind for the country, but instead his so-called Bling Bling style of presidency and more importantly his love life.

The signs that something was not quite right had been there for a long time. His former wife, Cécilia only made a re-appearance on the French political scene in the run-up to the presidential election - and she didn't even vote for her husband.

By the autumn of course the marriage was officially over, and their quickie divorce was announced just as the country was being brought to a standstill by a series of transportation strikes.

Sarkozy was everywhere all the time - taking on the role of prime minister, making promises many felt he couldn't really keep and dominating the news in a way his predecessor, Jacques Chirac hadn't.

His personal life, his style and his seeming love of celebrity status had become the main talking point, and his approval ratings plummeted.

And then of course came the icing on the cake - rumours of a romance. And at the end of the year came the stage managed photo op at EuroDisneyland which revealed that yes indeed, there was a new love in his life, Carla Bruni.

More photos followed of the couple together on a New Year pre-honeymoon in Jordan and then the first press conference in January at which there was only one question on everybody's lips.

So when Sarkozy actually announced a policy decision which seemed to come from nowhere - to scrap advertising from public television - everyone was taken by surprise. None more so than the poor man who heads French television, Patrick de Carolis, who had no idea what was coming.

The Carla effect

The high point - or low point depending on your perspective - of Sarkozy's presidency so far perhaps came at the annual agricultural fair in February, when he insulted a visitor who refused to shake his hand with the by now infamous "Casse toi, pauvre con."

What a contrast to the enthusiastic back-slapping, hand-pumping and nostalgic welcome afforded to the visit of Chirac, just a few days later to the same show. It left many yearning for the "good old, not so bad old days" when a president was...well "presidential.

There has been a lot written - an awful lot - about what effect Sarkozy's marriage in February has had to his style of presidency. And to a certain extent at least it seems that ever since Carla said she "did", there has been difference.

Coupled with the setback his UMP party had in the local elections in March, marriage seems to have encouraged Sarkozy to adopt a more "presidential" style, staying out of the frontline (although it's hard to ignore his presence) of domestic politics and allowing his ministers to get on with their jobs.

Of course old habits die hard and Sarkozy has still managed to annoy. He took what many consider too long to decide whether to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics games, sending out mixed messages along the way and allowing his junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade, to claim and then retract, that he had "set conditions" for his attendance.

More recently there were off-the-cuff remarks that the Irish should be made to vote again on the issue of European Union reform after they rejected the Lisbon treaty - hardly a comment guaranteed to have enamoured him to other EU members states.

Reform

Whether you love him or loathe him, it's certainly hard to ignore Sarkozy. And when the French come back from their summer holidays - La Rentrée - they can expect to see changes.

Because in spite of everything that might or might not have happened over the past year, there are in fact a number of reforms due to come into effect.

Sarkozy has managed to deliver on his promise to drag the country kicking and screaming into the 21st century in terms of institutional reform, and although it might take a while to implement, his behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing ensured that it scraped through parliament earlier this month.

Then of course there is the recent parliamentary approval of a reform to the country's labour laws which most agree will signal the beginning of the end for the 35-hour working week and make it easier for small and medium sized businesses in particular to be more flexible with overtime. That's the theory at least.

Most immediately though there will be the shake up to universities, due to come into effect in the next academic year and allowing them more autonomy and the right to manage their own finances, hire and fire staff as well as getting backing from private business.

Reforms to the judiciary have also been passed - although not without the protests from the profession, cuts in the civil service and changes in the school syllabus have also been rubber stamped despite similar strikes and protests.

And there are a whole raft of measures awaiting parliamentary approval such as defence cuts, and prison reform, and of course the government still has to do something about reducing the country's deficit and reviving an economy whose growth has recently yet again been forecast downwards.

Holiday listening

Until the end of the year, Sarkozy's attention will not just be focussed on domestic matters. France currently holds the six-month rotating presidency to the 27-nation EU and Sarkozy is eager to get cracking with agricultural and immigration reform - as well as sorting out the institutional gridlock of course.

One personal success since taking over the EU presidency already has been the launch of the Mediterranean Union even in the face of opposition.

And so as Sarkozy and his government go their separate ways for their three week break, "politics" should also be out of the French headlines for a while. And ministers will be able to kick back their heels and enjoy their parting present - Bruni-Sarkozy's latest album - given to each of them by her husband.

At the same time last year, when Sarkozy wafted over on cloud nine to the United States for his summer hols with his then wife, Cécilia, the weekly French glossies had a field day slapping airbrushed photos of him all over their pages.

This year promises to be a much more low key affair, although with Carla on his arm at her family's property in the south of France and the might of the long lens camera, it probably won't be too long before we're all treated to some more of the same. Unless that is, this master of stage management gives the assembled hacks the photo ops they and the rest of us are (not) craving.

And then towards the end of August it'll be back to business (not-quite-so) as usual.

Bonne vacances.