The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has returned to work after the summer break. He faces a series of increasing challenges, including criticism at home and abroad, pension reforms, spending cuts and strikes.
Reporter Christian Fraser
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing increased criticism.
The end of August is La Rentree; traditionally the time when France returns to the office. Always an occasion for post-holiday blues, but especially so for this president and particularly this year. In the past two weeks his leadership has been questioned at home and abroad over his controversial plan to expel Roma gypsies. A cynical ploy, said opponents, to win back public favour.
The trouble is it’s not working. The polls are against him; sections of his own party are against him; even the church has forsaken him on the issue of the Roma. And already the debate has begun on Mr Sarkozy’s chances for 2012.
The president has to find 100 billion euros of cuts by 2013, to cut a hugely inflated budget deficit from 8 to 3% – within EU limits. The biggest challenge will be pension reform, and his plan to increase the age of retirement from 60 to 62; it’s deeply unpopular.
Elected on a plan to fix the economy, this next two months will be the most critical point of Mr Sarkozy’s presidency. Get it wrong, and many think he will struggle to recover.
Christian Fraser, BBC News, Paris
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Vocabulary
- blues
- feelings of sadness
- controversial
- something that causes disagreement
- gypsies
- members of a race of travelling people
- cynical
- insincere
- polls
- studies in which people are asked their opinions on a particular topic
- forsaken
- abandoned
- debate
- argument or serious discussion
- budget deficit
- shortage of money
- pension
- sum of money paid by the state or a private company to people who have stopped working
- retirement
- time of your life when you stop working completely
________________________________________________________________________ - What do you think?
- I believe Germany has to make the same cuts in spending and someone will suffer.
- whoever suffers most from spending cuts is going to be unhappy with the leadership; you can’t change that. This is why I think you should always do what you feel is right, whatever the consequences are
) @ Aaron: I have a better idea: Instead of...
Have a nice...
Raise the age for retirement to 62 – and they have a problem with that?
The saying used to be: the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but for the french, they would be looking at dried-out grass.
Yes, whoever feels the cut will be unhappy. That is the same all around.
But for Sarkozy doing what he thinks is right may cost him his job.
I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes…
I think it was the former Bavarian Prime Minister Franz-Josef Strauss who said: “Who wants to dry up swampland may not ask the frogs” –
or, in other words: “It’s always a problem to talk to geese about christmas.” (can’t remember the author, but I like it
I think there are many things, I could do without thinking about the consequences. But what would the world look like, if everybody would act in that way? The human man kind would not exist any more. OK, in 50 years, nobody will talk about mankind anyway…
Maybe I would be a great idea, if a politican could be elected for just one time, let’s say for 6 years. Than he/she counld act in a much more free way. At the present time, most of the politicians are just thinking about their own pension. I hope this is not true.
I think a politician should always think about the consequences – of course not for himself, but for the whole nation – and not only for now but also for later. And I think Sarkozy does so – or at least he tries. The point is that the truth often is unpopular and the measures will not be accepted by everyone. Otherwise it’s really difficult to find a solution, because there is no “silver bullet” – often they can only choose the lesser of two evils.
However, the interaction of thoughts, feelings and actions is an interesting philosophical question – not only for politicians. And it leads us to three important questions of our existence (maybe the most important): Where am I? How do I know it? What should I do? – What simple questions but how difficult to answer – because nothing is given us automatically, neither knowledge, nor self-confidence, nor inner serenity, nor the right way to use our mind. Every value we need or want has to be discovered, learned and acquired…