Via the Jerusalem Post:

France's interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, formally clinched the ruling conservatives' presidential nomination Sunday, pushing a pivotal race for a discouraged nation into high gear.

The ruling UMP party announced that Sarkozy, the sole person listed on the party ballot, had won a vote by registered members. He now faces a tight race against the top contender on the left, Socialist Segolene Royal, for the elections in April and May.

...

Sarkozy has earned both kudos and vitriol for promising to cut cherished workplace protections, championing tough police tactics in hardscrabble housing projects and sending illegal immigrants back to Africa and elsewhere.

He says he is trying to snap France out of its slump: He says the French are overtaxed, overburdened by government fees that crimp innovation, too resistant to speaking English and ill-prepared for globalization.

Sarkozy is now 51 years old. His father emigrated to France from Hungary and his mother is French. He's a lawyer, which together with his youth distinguishes him sharply from France's ruling class, who generally have degrees in government, from Sciences-Po or the Ecole Nationale.

He is seen as intellectually sympathetic to both Britain (specifically with Tony Blair) and with the US. Most significantly, he is seen as a "hard-liner" on immigration. As Interior Minister, he has pushed policies that seek to curb illegal immigration, but also to improve the prospects for employment of skilled youth, including Muslim youth.

There are warts, of course. He has been against our mission in Iraq (naturally), and as Finance Minister has shown protectionist instincts. Here's a profile on him from the BBC.

Posted by: Ragnar at 11:48 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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