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Achille Mbembe
:For information on the cryptid, see: Mokele-Mbembe
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Achille Peretti
Achille Peretti (13 June 1911 – 14 April 1983), was a French politician.
http://wn.com/Achille_Peretti -
Alain Juppé
Alain Marie Juppé (; born 15 August 1945) is a French right-wing politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac. He had previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1995, and as Minister of the Budget and Spokesman for the Government from 1986 to 1988.
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Alain Madelin
Alain Madelin (born March 26, 1946 in Paris) is a French politician and a former minister of that country.
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Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel, (; née Kasner, born 17 July 1954) is the current Chancellor of Germany. Merkel, elected to the Bundestag (German Parliament) from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 10 April 2000, and Chairman of the CDU-CSU (Christian Social Union) parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.
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Anne Fulda
Anne Fulda (born 1963) is a French journalist of jewish origin, working for Le Figaro in the politics department since 1992. She is a specialist of French politics and in particular of French right. She wrote a book about Jacques Chirac in 1997 . She was allegedly the mistress of the current French President Nicolas Sarkozy from 2005 to 2006 .
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Antoni Martí
http://wn.com/Antoni_Martí -
Axel Kahn
Axel Kahn, born in 1944, is a French scientist and geneticist. He is the brother of the journalist Jean-François Kahn. He was a member of the French National Consultative Ethics Committee from 1992 to 2004 and worked in gene therapy. He first entered the INSERM with a specialization in biochemistry. He was named in 2002 as a counsellor for biosciences and biotechnologies matters by the European Commission.Head of French laboratories specialized in biomedical sciences between years 1984 and 2007,he has been elected as the President of the University Paris Descartes in December 2007, where he was the sole candidate.
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Azouz Begag
Azouz Begag, () (born 5 February 1957 in Lyon, Rhône, France) is a French writer, politician and researcher in economics and sociology at the CNRS. He was the delegate minister for equal opportunities of France in the government of French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) till April 5, 2007. He resigned to support the moderate centrist candidate François Bayrou, one of the two UMP ministers to do so.
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Bernard Arnault
Bernard Arnault (born 5 March 1949) is a French businessman. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of LVMH, a large luxury goods conglomerate consisting of over fifty luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Fendi. According to Forbes Magazine, Arnault is the world's 7th richest person, with a 2010 net worth of $US27.5 billion.
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Bernard Kouchner
Bernard Kouchner (born 1 November 1939) is a French politician, diplomat, and doctor. He is co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) -- also known as Doctors Without Borders -- and Doctors of the World. He is currently the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the right-wing Fillon government, although he was considered in the past to be a center-left politician.
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Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one. He has been described as one of the world's most attractive men, a label for which he has received substantial media attention.
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Brice Hortefeux
Brice Hortefeux (born 11 May 1958) is a French politician and Minister of the Interior, Overseas Territories and Territorial collectivities. He was previously Minister for Labour, Labour Relations, the Family, Solidarity and Urban Affairs and Minister-Delegate for Local Government at the Ministry of the Interior and was a Member of the European Parliament.
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Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (born Carla Gilberta Bruni Tedeschi, 23 December 1967) is an Italian-born French songwriter, singer, and former model. Since February 2008, she has been married to the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy.
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Christine Lagarde
Christine Lagarde (born 1 January 1956) is the current Minister of Economic Affairs, Industry and Employment of France, appointed in June 2007. She was previously Minister of Agriculture and Fishing and Minister of Trade in the government of Dominique de Villepin. Lagarde is the first woman ever to become minister of Economic Affairs of a G8 economy.
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Cécilia Attias
Cécilia María Sara Isabel Attias (née Ciganer-Albéniz, previously Martin and Sarkozy) (born 12 November 1957, Boulogne-Billancourt, France) was the second wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy until October 2007.
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Daniel Vaillant
Daniel Vaillant (born July 19, 1949 in Lormes, Nièvre) is a French Socialist politician.
http://wn.com/Daniel_Vaillant -
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE (born 2 May 1975) is an English footballer who plays in midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Milan, as well as the England national team, for whom he holds the all-time appearance record for an outfield player.
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Edouard Balladur
http://wn.com/Edouard_Balladur -
Francis Mer
Francis Mer (may 25th, 1939, in Pau) is a French businessman, industrialist and politician. A former alumnus of the Ecole polytechnique, he was hired in 1970 by the Saint-Gobain group. In 1982, he became chairman of the board of Pont-à-Mousson SA. In the 1980s, he joined the Saint-Simon Foundation think-tank.
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François Baroin
François Baroin (born 21 June 1965 in Paris) is a French politician and a long-time ally of Jacques Chirac. He is currently the mayor of Troyes.
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François d'Aubert
François d’Aubert (born October 31, 1943 in Boulogne-sur-Seine) is a French politician.
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François Fillon
François Charles Amand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954 in Le Mans, Sarthe) is the current Prime Minister of France, having been appointed to that office by President Nicolas Sarkozy on 17 May 2007.
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François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (, 26 October 1916 8 January 1996) was the 21st President of the French Republic, serving from 1981 until 1995, and the candidate of the left in each presidential election of the Fifth Republic from 1965 to 1988, except 1969.
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Gaddafi
http://wn.com/Gaddafi -
Hervé Gaymard
Hervé Gaymard (born 31 May 1960 in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Savoie) is a French politician and a member of UMP conservative party. He served as the country's Minister of Finances from 30 November 2004 until his resignation on 25 February 2005.
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Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak ( Muḥammad Ḥusnī Sayyid Mubārak; commonly known as Hosni Mubarak; ; transliterated: Ḥusnī Mubārak); (b. 4 May 1928) is the fourth and current President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. He was appointed Vice President in 1975, and assumed the Presidency on 14 October 1981, following the assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat. He is the longest-serving Egyptian head of state since Muhammad Ali Pasha.
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Hungarian people
Ethnic group
http://wn.com/Hungarian_people -
Ingrid Betancourt
http://wn.com/Ingrid_Betancourt -
Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual () (29 May 1860, Camprodon – 18 May 1909, Cambo-les-Bains) was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms (many of which have been transcribed by others for guitar).
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Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac (; born 29 November 1932) is a French right-wing politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 (making him the only person to hold the position of Prime Minister twice under the Fifth Republic), and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.
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Janez Janša
Janez (Ivan) Janša (born 17 September 1958) is a Slovenian politician and president of the Slovenian Democratic Party. Between November 2004 and November 2008, he served as the Prime Minister of Slovenia.
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Jaume Bartumeu
Jaume Bartumeu Cassany (born 10 November 1954) is an Andorran lawyer and politician currently serving as head of government. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party (PS) in June 2000, in which he held the position of first secretary between 2000 and 2004. He was the leader of the opposition at the General Council between 2005 and 2009.
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Jean Sarkozy
Jean Sarkozy de Nagy-Bocsa (born 1 September 1986) is the son of the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy from his first marriage, to Marie-Dominique Culioli. Jean is a regional councillor in the city of Neuilly-sur-Seine, France and registered as a 1st year Law student at Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University in 2007. He is a backroom activist for his father's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), a right-wing party.
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Jean-Claude Gaudin
Jean-Claude Gaudin (born October 8, 1939) is a French politician. He has been Mayor of Marseille since 1995 and Vice-President of the Senate since 1998; additionally, he has been Vice-President of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) since 2002.
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Jean-Louis Debré
Jean-Louis Debré (born 30 September 1944) is a conservative French political figure. He was President of the National Assembly of France from 2002 to 2007 and has been President of the Constitutional Council since 2007.
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Liliane Bettencourt
Liliane Bettencourt (born 21 October 1922) is a French heiress, socialite, businesswoman and philanthropist. She is one of the principal shareholders of L'Oréal and, with a fortune estimated at US$20 billion, is one of the wealthiest people in the world.
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Martine Aubry
Martine Aubry (; née Delors; born 8 August 1950 in Paris) is a French politician. She has been the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste, or PS) since November 2008 and Mayor of Lille (Nord) since March 2001. Her father, Jacques Delors, served as Minister of Finance under President François Mitterrand and was also President of the European Commission.
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Michel Charasse
Michel Charasse (born 8 July 1941) is a member of the Senate of France. He represents the Puy-de-Dôme department, and is a member of the European Democratic and Social Rally.
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Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya (, , German: Nikolaus von Horthy und Nagybánya; Kenderes, 18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957, Estoril) was the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar years and throughout most of World War II, serving from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944. Horthy was styled "His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary" (Hungarian: Ő Főméltósága a Magyar Királyság Kormányzója).
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Mirek Topolánek
Mirek Topolánek () (born 15 May 1956 in Vsetín, Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic) is a former prime minister of the Czech Republic and President of the European Council. A member of the Civic Democratic Party, he was chairman of the center-right party between November 2002 and March 2010, succeeding Václav Klaus, after Klaus's election as President.
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Napoleon
http://wn.com/Napoleon -
Olivier Besancenot
Olivier Besancenot () (born on 18 April 1974) is a French far left political figure and trade unionist who has become a leading opponent of President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was a candidate for the 2007 French presidential election, for the Ligue communiste révolutionnaire (LCR), the French section of the Fourth International. He gained 1.2 million votes, 4.25%, standing as a revolutionary socialist in the 2002 presidential elections.
http://wn.com/Olivier_Besancenot -
Olivier Sarkozy
Olivier Sarkozy is a French-American businessman and the half-brother of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
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Patrick Devedjian
Patrick Devedjian (born on 26 August 1944 in Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne) is a French politician of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party. A close adviser of Nicolas Sarkozy since the 1990s, he has been Minister under the Prime Minister in charge of the Implementation of the Recovery Plan, a special ministerial post created for two years after the global financial crisis of 2008, since December 2008. He is of Armenian descent.
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Philippe Séguin
Philippe Séguin (21 April 1943 – 7 January 2010) was a French political figure who was President of the National Assembly from 1993 to 1997 and President of the Cour des Comptes (Court of Financial Auditors) of France from 2004 to 2010.
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Pierre Méhaignerie
Pierre Méhaignerie (born on 4 May 1939, in Balazé, Ille-et-Vilaine) is a French politician. He is presently deputy of the Ille-et-Vilaine's 5th constituency (re-elected on 10 June 2007) and mayor of Vitré (re-elected on March 2008).
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Rachida Dati
Rachida Dati (November 27, 1965 in Saint-Rémy, Saône-et-Loire) is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament, representing Île-de-France. Before her election, she held the cabinet post of Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice. She was a spokesperson for Nicolas Sarkozy during the French presidential election of 2007. After his victory, Sarkozy appointed her to his Government on 18 May 2007.
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Richard Attias
Richard Attias (born 1959) is a Moroccan global events producer, former chairman of PublicisLive and presently the Executive Chairman of the Experience Corporation. Attias was the producer of the World Economic Forum in Davos for over fifteen years.
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Rodrigo Granda
Ricardo González also known as Rodrigo Granda is a Colombian Venezuelan member of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). He serves as international spokesman of the guerrilla organization.
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Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (Arabic: ; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Ba'ath Party, which espoused secular pan-Arabism, economic modernization, and Arab socialism, Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup that brought the party to long-term power.
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Savorgnan de Brazza
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Silvio Berlusconi
(born 29 September 1936 in Milan) is an Italian politician, the current Prime Minister of Italy, as well as a successful entrepreneur. He is the second longest-serving Prime Minister of Italy, a position he has held on three separate occasions: from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2006 and currently since 2008. Technically, Berlusconi has been sworn in four times because after a cabinet reshuffle, as happened with Berlusconi in 2005, the new ministry is sworn in and subjected to a vote of confidence. He is the leader of the People of Freedom political movement, a centre-right party he founded in 2009. As of November 2009, he is the longest-serving current leader of a G8 country. As of 2010, Forbes magazine has ranked him as the 74th richest man in the world with a net worth of USD 9 billion.
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Tenzin Gyatso
http://wn.com/Tenzin_Gyatso -
Thabo Mbeki
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki
http://wn.com/Thabo_Mbeki -
The Times
The Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785, when it was known as The Daily Universal Register.
http://wn.com/The_Times -
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (; born July 3, 1962), better known by his screen name of Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won three Golden Globe Awards. His first leading role was the 1983 film Risky Business, which has been described as "A Generation X classic, and a career-maker" for the actor. After playing the role of a heroic naval pilot in the popular and financially successful 1986 film Top Gun, Cruise continued in this vein, playing a secret agent in a series of action films in the 1990s and 2000s. In addition to these heroic roles, he has starred in many other successful films such as Jerry Maguire (1996), Magnolia (1999), Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004) and War of the Worlds (2005).
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Álvaro Uribe
Álvaro Uribe Vélez (; born 4 July 1952) was the 58th President of Colombia, from 2002 to 2010. In August 2010 he was appointed Vice-chairman of the UN panel investigating the Gaza flotilla raid.
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Édouard Balladur
Édouard Balladur (; born 2 May 1929) is a French right-wing politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 29 March 1993 to 10 May 1995.
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Éric Wœrth
Éric Woerth (born 29 January 1956) is a French politician.
http://wn.com/Éric_Wœrth
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17th Arrondissement
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33rd G8 summit
The 33rd G8 summit took place at Kempinski Grand Hotel in Heiligendamm in the old Duchy of Mecklenburg in the Northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the Baltic Coast. The group of eight leaders met together from 6 June to 8 June 2007.The locations of previous G8 summits to have been hosted by Germany include: Bonn (1978, 1985); Munich (1992) and Cologne (1999).
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Berlin Wall
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Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Film Festival (), founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held annually (usually in May) at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France.
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Columbia university
http://wn.com/Columbia_university -
Gaza
Gaza ( , ; also referred to as Gaza City) is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 410,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.
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Guantanamo captive
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Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine (92) (literally "Seine Heights") is a département in France. It is part of the region of Île-de-France region, and covers the near western suburbs of Paris. It is small and densely populated and contains the modern office, theatre and shopping complex known as La Défense.
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Heiligendamm
Heiligendamm () is a German seaside resort, founded in 1793. The small cluster of structures which still survive are reminders of the glory days of days gone by when this part of the Baltic Sea was one of the playgrounds of Europe's aristocracy. It is the oldest seaside spa in Germany. Heiligendamm is part of the town Bad Doberan in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
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MILAN
MILAN (; , "milan(e)" is French and German for "kite bird") is a European anti-tank guided missile. Design of the MILAN started in 1962. It was ready for trials in 1971, and was accepted for service in 1972. It is a wire guided SACLOS (Semi-Automatic Command to Line-Of-Sight) missile, which means the sight of the launch unit has to be aimed at the target to guide the missile. The MILAN can be equipped with a MIRA thermal sight, to give it night-firing ability.
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NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO ( ; ), also called the "(North) Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The NATO headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, and the organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.
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Riyadh
Riyadh ( ar-Riyāḍ, lit: The Gardens) is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Nejd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 4,854,000 people, and the urban center of a region with a population of close to 7 million people. The city is divided into 15 municipal districts, managed by Riyadh Municipality headed by the mayor of Riyadh, and the Riyadh Development Authority, chaired by the Governor of Riyadh Province, Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz. The current mayor of Riyadh is Abdul Aziz ibn Ayyaf Al Migrin, appointed in 1998.
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Toronto
Toronto (, colloquially or ) is the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America. Toronto is at the heart of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and is part of a densely populated region in Southern Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe, which is home to over 8.1 million residents—approximately 25% of Canada's population. The census metropolitan area (CMA) had a population of 5,113,149, and the Greater Toronto Area had a population of 5,555,912 in the 2006 Census.
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Élysée Palace
The Élysée Palace (, ) is the official residence of the President of the French Republic, containing his office, and is where the Council of Ministers meets. It is located near the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
http://wn.com/Élysée_Palace
- 33rd G8 summit
- Achille Mbembe
- Achille Peretti
- acquittal
- affirmative action
- Agence France-Presse
- Airbus
- Ajaccio
- Alain Juppé
- Alain Madelin
- Albert Pintat
- Alstom
- amnesty
- Angela Merkel
- Anne Fulda
- Antoni Martí
- Argenteuil
- aristocracy
- Associated Press
- Axel Kahn
- Azouz Begag
- baccalauréat
- bar (law)
- Bastille Day
- Berlin Wall
- Bernard Arnault
- Bernard Kouchner
- Bettencourt affair
- biometric
- Brad Pitt
- Brice Hortefeux
- budget deficit
- business law
- Cannes Film Festival
- carbon dioxide
- Carla Bruni
- CBS
- censorship (France)
- charisma
- Charles Pasqua
- Christian Frémont
- Christine Lagarde
- civil unions
- CNIL
- Co-Prince of Andorra
- Columbia university
- Commune in France
- communes of France
- Condoleezza Rice
- credit (finance)
- Cécilia Attias
- DADVSI
- Daily Mirror
- Daily Telegraph
- Daniel Vaillant
- David Beckham
- Deauville
- decree
- dictatorship
- dirigisme
- EADS
- Edouard Balladur
- Education in France
- Emmanuelle Mignon
- entente cordiale
- Eric Besson
- Eric Woerth
- ethnic cleansing
- ex officio
- family law
- FARC
- Finance Minister
- Force de Frappe
- Foreign Policy
- FPR
- France 2
- France 5
- France Info
- France Télécom
- Francis Mer
- François Baroin
- François d'Aubert
- François Fillon
- François Hollande
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- French copyright law
- French economy
- French parliament
- French Revolution
- G20
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- Gaza
- gene
- global warming
- GQ
- Guantanamo captive
- guerrilla
- Guillaume Sarkozy
- Hamas
- Hauts-de-Seine
- Heiligendamm
- Hervé Gaymard
- HIV trial in Libya
- Holy See
- Hosni Mubarak
- housing project
- Houston Chronicle
- Hungarian people
- Image editing
- IMF
- Ingrid Betancourt
- inheritance tax
- Iraq War
- Isaac Albéniz
- Islam
- Islam in France
- Jacques Chirac
- Janez Janša
- Jaume Bartumeu
- Jean Sarkozy
- Jean-Claude Gaudin
- Jean-Louis Debré
- Jean-Pierre Raffarin
- kindergarten
- Kärcher
- L'Expansion
- L'Express (France)
- L'Humanité
- La Courneuve
- laissez-faire
- Laval, Mayenne
- lawsuit
- Le Canard enchaîné
- Le Figaro
- Le Monde
- Le Parisien
- leftist
- Legion of Honour
- Les éditions du Cerf
- Libération
- life insurance
- Liliane Bettencourt
- Louis-Charles Bary
- love handle
- Légion d'honneur
- Maastricht Treaty
- Marianne (magazine)
- Martin Bouygues
- Martine Aubry
- May '68
- MBDA
- Media Part
- Michel Charasse
- Michel Onfray
- Michèle Alliot-Marie
- Miklós Horthy
- MILAN
- Minister of State
- Mirek Topolánek
- Napoleon
- nationalisation
- NATO
- Neo-Gaullist
- net worth
- Neuilly-sur-Seine
- Nouveau Centre
- nuclear power
- Olivier Besancenot
- Olivier Sarkozy
- orator
- Order of Léopold
- Order of the Bath
- paedophilia
- paparazzi
- Paris Match
- Paris XVII
- parole
- Patrick Devedjian
- peasant
- peer-to-peer
- pharmacist
- Philippe Massoni
- Philippe Séguin
- Pierre Méhaignerie
- political left
- political right
- populism
- President of France
- Private law
- progressivism
- Publicis
- quota
- Rachida Dati
- Rally for France
- republicanism
- Reuters
- Richard Attias
- Right of asylum
- Riyadh
- Robert Badinter
- Rodrigo Granda
- Rogue state
- Roman Catholicism
- Rue 89
- Régions in France
- Saddam Hussein
- same-sex marriage
- Sarkosy
- Savorgnan de Brazza
- Silvio Berlusconi
- Sovereign immunity
- Strasbourg
- subsidy
- SWF
- Ségolène Royal
- tax code
- Tenzin Gyatso
- TF1
- Thabo Mbeki
- The Economist
- The Guardian
- The New York Times
- The New Yorker
- The Times
- Tom Cruise
- Toronto
- Toulon
- unemployment
- upper middle-class
- Vico, Corse-du-Sud
- voodoo doll
- Washington Post
- Álvaro Uribe
- Édouard Balladur
- Élysée Palace
- Éric Wœrth
Nicola, Nicola Filmography
Nicolas
Releases by album:
Album releases
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:59
- Published: 02 Jun 2011
- Uploaded: 11 Nov 2011
- Author: NicolaRobertsVeVo
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:25
- Published: 18 Jul 2007
- Uploaded: 10 Nov 2011
- Author: ScrandaLaMela
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:25
- Published: 11 Aug 2011
- Uploaded: 11 Nov 2011
- Author: NicolaRobertsVeVo
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:01
- Published: 11 May 2010
- Uploaded: 11 Nov 2011
- Author: jollyrogertracks
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:33
- Published: 28 May 2011
- Uploaded: 11 Nov 2011
- Author: jollyrogertracks
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:08
- Published: 30 Nov 2009
- Uploaded: 10 Nov 2011
- Author: supergirlOn
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:29
- Published: 13 Oct 2008
- Uploaded: 10 Nov 2011
- Author: schemarecords
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:42
- Published: 02 Dec 2010
- Uploaded: 10 Nov 2011
- Author: thesw33tfix
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:15
- Published: 07 Jul 2007
- Uploaded: 10 Nov 2011
- Author: MechFighter
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:00
- Published: 14 Sep 2011
- Uploaded: 11 Nov 2011
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| Coordinates | 55°45′06″N37°37′04″N |
|---|---|
| Name | Nicolas Sarkozy |
| Office | 23rd President of France |
| Primeminister | François Fillon |
| Term start | 16 May 2007 |
| Predecessor | Jacques Chirac |
| Office2 | Co-Prince of Andorra |
| Primeminister2 | Albert PintatJaume BartumeuAntoni Martí |
| Governor general2 | Philippe MassoniEmmanuelle MignonChristian Frémont |
| Alongside2 | Joan Enric Vives Sicília |
| Term start2 | 16 May 2007 |
| Predecessor2 | Jacques Chirac |
| Office3 | Minister of the Interior |
| Primeminister3 | Dominique de Villepin |
| Term start3 | 2 June 2005 |
| Term end3 | 26 March 2007 |
| Predecessor3 | Dominique de Villepin |
| Successor3 | François Baroin |
| Primeminister4 | Jean-Pierre Raffarin |
| Term start4 | 7 May 2002 |
| Term end4 | 30 March 2004 |
| Predecessor4 | Daniel Vaillant |
| Successor4 | Dominique de Villepin |
| Office5 | Minister of Finance |
| Primeminister5 | Jean-Pierre Raffarin |
| Term start5 | 31 March 2004 |
| Term end5 | 29 November 2004 |
| Predecessor5 | Francis Mer |
| Successor5 | Hervé Gaymard |
| Office7 | Minister of the Budget |
| Primeminister7 | Edouard Balladur |
| Term start7 | 30 March 1993 |
| Term end7 | 11 May 1995 |
| Predecessor7 | Michel Charasse |
| Successor7 | François d'Aubert |
| Office8 | Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine |
| Term start8 | 14 April 1983 |
| Term end8 | 7 May 2002 |
| Predecessor8 | Achille Peretti |
| Successor8 | Louis-Charles Bary |
| Birth date | January 28, 1955 |
| Birth place | Paris, France |
| Party | Union for a Popular Movement (2002–present) |
| Otherparty | Rally for the Republic (1976–2002) |
| Spouse | Marie-Dominique Culioli (1982–1996)Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz (1996–2007)Carla Bruni (2008–present) |
| Children | Pierre (by Culioli)Jean (by Culioli)Louis (by Ciganer-Albéniz) |
| Relations | Guillaume Sarkozy (brother)Olivier Sarkozy (half-brother) |
| Residence | Élysée Palace |
| Alma mater | Paris West University Nanterre La Défense |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Signature | Nicolas Sarkozy signature.svg |
| Website | sarkozy.fr }} |
| name | Nicolas Sarkozy |
|---|---|
| reference | Son Excellence (Monsieur) |
| spoken | Monsieur le Président |
| alternative | }} |
| name | Nicolas Sarkozy |
|---|---|
| reference | His Serene Highness'' |
| spoken | Your Serene Highness |
| alternative | }} |
Before his presidency, he was leader of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). Under Jacques Chirac's presidency he served as Minister of the Interior in Jean-Pierre Raffarin's (UMP) first two governments (from May 2002 to March 2004), then was appointed Minister of Finances in Raffarin's last government (March 2004 to May 2005) and again Minister of the Interior in Dominique de Villepin's government (2005–2007).
Sarkozy was also president of the General council of the Hauts-de-Seine department from 2004 to 2007 and mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, one of the wealthiest communes of France from 1983 to 2002. He was Minister of the Budget in the government of Édouard Balladur (RPR, predecessor of the UMP) during François Mitterrand's last term.
Sarkozy is known for wanting to revitalize the French economy. In foreign affairs he has promised a strengthening of the entente cordiale with the United Kingdom and closer cooperation with the United States. He married singer-songwriter Carla Bruni on 2 February 2008 at the Élysée Palace in Paris.
Personal life
Family background
Sarkozy is a Frenchman of mixed national and ethnic ancestry. He is the son of Pál István Ernő Sárközy de Nagy-Bócsa, (; some sources spell it Nagy-Bócsay Sárközy Pál István Ernő; ) a Hungarian aristocrat, and Andrée Jeanne "Dadu" Mallah (b. Paris, 12 October 1925), who is of French Catholic and Greek Jewish origin. They were married at Saint-François-de-Sales, Paris XVII, on 8 February 1950 and divorced in 1959.
Early life
During Sarkozy's childhood, his father allegedly refused to give his wife's family any financial help, even though he had founded his own advertising agency and had become wealthy. The family lived in a small mansion owned by Sarkozy's grandfather, Benedict Mallah, in the 17th Arrondissement of Paris. The family later moved to Neuilly-sur-Seine, one of the wealthiest communes of the Île-de-France région immediately west of the 17th Arrondissement just outside of Paris. According to Sarkozy, his staunchly Gaullist grandfather was more of an influence on him than his father, whom he rarely saw. Sarkozy was, accordingly, raised Catholic.Sarkozy said that being abandoned by his father shaped much of who he is today. He also has said that, in his early years, he felt inferior in relation to his wealthier and taller classmates. "What made me who I am now is the sum of all the humiliations suffered during childhood", he said later.
Education
Sarkozy was enrolled in the Lycée Chaptal, a well regarded public middle and high school in Paris's 8th arrondissement, where he failed his sixième. His family then sent him to the Cours Saint-Louis de Monceau, a private Catholic school in the 17th arrondissement, where he was reportedly a mediocre student, but where he nonetheless obtained his baccalauréat in 1973. He enrolled at the Université Paris X Nanterre, where he graduated with an MA in Private law, and later with a DEA degree in Business law. Paris X Nanterre had been the starting place for the May '68 student movement and was still a stronghold of leftist students. Described as a quiet student, Sarkozy soon joined the right-wing student organization, in which he was very active. He completed his military service as a part time Air Force cleaner. After graduating, he entered the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, better known as Sciences Po, (1979–1981) but failed to graduate due to an insufficient command of the English language. After passing the bar, he became a lawyer specializing in business and family law, and was one of Silvio Berlusconi's top French advocates.
Marriages
Marie-Dominique Culioli
Sarkozy married his first wife, Marie-Dominique Culioli, on 23 September 1982; her father was a pharmacist from Vico (a village north of Ajaccio, Corsica). They had two sons, Pierre (born in 1985), now a hip-hop producer, and Jean (born in 1986) now a local politician in the city of Neuilly-sur-Seine where Sarkozy started his own political career. Sarkozy's best man was the prominent right-wing politician Charles Pasqua, later to become a political opponent. Sarkozy divorced Culioli in 1996, after they had been separated for several years.
Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz
As mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, Sarkozy met former fashion model and public relations executive Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz (great-granddaughter of composer Isaac Albéniz and daughter of a Moldovan father), when he officiated at her wedding to television host Jacques Martin. In 1988, she left her husband for Sarkozy, and divorced Martin one year later. Sarkozy married her in October 1996, with witnesses Martin Bouygues and Bernard Arnault They have one son, Louis, born 23 April 1997.Between 2002 and 2005, the couple often appeared together on public occasions, with Cécilia Sarkozy acting as the chief aide for her husband. On 25 May 2005, however, the Swiss newspaper Le Matin revealed that she had left Sarkozy for French-Moroccan national Richard Attias, head of Publicis in New York. There were other accusations of a private nature in Le Matin, which led to Sarkozy suing the paper. In the meantime, he was said to have had an affair with a journalist of Le Figaro, Anne Fulda.
Sarkozy and Cécilia ultimately divorced on 15 October 2007, soon after his election as President.
Carla Bruni
Less than a month after separating from Cécilia, Sarkozy met Italian-born singer Carla Bruni at a dinner party, and soon entered a relationship with her. They married on 2 February 2008 at the Élysée Palace in Paris.In 2010, there were controversial reports that the marriage was in trouble. Allegations on Twitter stated that both parties were having extramarital affairs. On 17 May 2011 it was announced that Sarkozy and Carla Bruni are expecting their first child later this year. Appearing at the 2011 G8 Meeting in Deauville, she presented herself to the media to formally announce her pregnancy.
Personal wealth
Sarkozy declared to the Constitutional Council a net worth of €2 million, most of the assets being in the form of life insurance policies. As the French President, one of his first actions was to give himself a raise: his yearly salary went from €101,000 to €240,000 (to match his European/French peers). He is also entitled to a mayoral pension as a former mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine. He also receives a yearly council pension as a former member of the council of the Hauts-de-Seine department.
Member of National Assembly
Sarkozy is recognised by both the right and left's French parties as a skilled politician and striking orator. His supporters within France emphasize his charisma, political innovation and willingness to "make a dramatic break" amid mounting disaffection against "politics as usual". Overall, he is considered more pro-United States and pro-Israeli than most French politicians.Since November 2004, Sarkozy has been president of the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP), France's major right-wing political party, and he was Minister of the Interior in the government of Dominique de Villepin, with the honorific title of Minister of State, making him effectively the number three official in the French State after President Jacques Chirac and the prime minister. His ministerial responsibilities included law enforcement and working to co-ordinate relationships between the national and local governments, as well as Minister of Worship (in this role he created the CFCM, French Council of Muslim Faith). Previously, he was a deputy to the French National Assembly. He was forced to resign this position in order to accept his ministerial appointment. He previously also held several ministerial posts, including Finance Minister.
In government
Sarkozy's political career began when he was 23, when he became a city councillor in Neuilly-sur-Seine. A member of the Neo-Gaullist party RPR, he went on to be elected mayor of that town, after the death of the incumbent mayor Achille Peretti. Sarkozy had been close to Peretti, as his mother was Peretti's secretary. The senior RPR politician at the time, Charles Pasqua, wanted to become mayor, and asked Sarkozy to organize his campaign. Instead Sarkozy profited from Pasqua's short illness to propel himself into the office of mayor. He was the youngest mayor of any town in France with a population of over 50,000. He served from 1983 to 2002. In 1988, he became a deputy in the National Assembly.In 1993, Sarkozy was in the national news for personally negotiating with the "Human Bomb", a man who had taken small children hostage in a kindergarten in Neuilly. The "Human Bomb" was killed after two days of talks by policemen of the RAID, who entered the school stealthily while the attacker was resting.
From 1993 to 1995, he was Minister for the Budget and spokesman for the executive in the cabinet of Prime Minister Édouard Balladur. Throughout most of his early career, Sarkozy had been seen as a protégé of Jacques Chirac. During his tenure, he increased France's public debt more than any other French Budget Minister except his predecessor, by the equivalent of €200 billion (USD260 billion) (FY 1994–1996). The first two budgets he submitted to the parliament (budgets for FY1994 and FY1995) assumed a yearly budget deficit equivalent to six percent of GDP. According to the Maastricht Treaty, the French yearly budget deficit may not exceed three percent of France's GDP.
In 1995, he spurned Chirac and backed Édouard Balladur for President of France. After Chirac won the election, Sarkozy lost his position as Minister for the Budget and found himself outside the circles of power.
However, he returned after the right-wing defeat at the 1997 parliamentary election, as the number two candidate of the RPR. When the party leader Philippe Séguin resigned, in 1999, he took the leadership of the Neo-Gaullist party. But it obtained its worst result at the 1999 European Parliament election, winning 12.7% of the votes, less than the dissident Rally for France of Charles Pasqua. Sarkozy lost the RPR leadership. In 2002, however, after his re-election as President of the French Republic (see French presidential election, 2002), Chirac appointed Sarkozy as French Minister of the Interior in the cabinet of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, despite Sarkozy's support of Edouard Balladur for French President in 1995. Following Chirac's 14 July keynote speech on road safety, Sarkozy as interior minister pushed through new legislation leading to the mass purchase of speed cameras and a campaign to increase the awareness of dangers on the roads.
In the cabinet reshuffle of 30 April 2004, Sarkozy became Finance Minister. Tensions continued to build between Sarkozy and Chirac and within the UMP party, as Sarkozy's intentions of becoming head of the party after the resignation of Alain Juppé became clear.
In party elections of 10 November 2004, Sarkozy became leader of the UMP with 85% of the vote. In accordance with an agreement with Chirac, he resigned as Finance Minister. Sarkozy's ascent was marked by the division of UMP between sarkozystes, such as Sarkozy's "first lieutenant", Brice Hortefeux, and Chirac loyalists, such as Jean-Louis Debré.
Sarkozy was made Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) by President Chirac in February 2005. He was re-elected on 13 March 2005 to the National Assembly (as required by the constitution, he had to resign as a deputy when he became minister in 2002).
On 31 May 2005 the main French news radio station France Info reported a rumour that Sarkozy was to be reappointed Minister of the Interior in the government of Dominique de Villepin without resigning from the UMP leadership. This was confirmed on 2 June 2005, when the members of the government were officially announced.
First term as Minister of the Interior
Towards the end of his first term as Minister of the Interior, in 2004, Sarkozy was the most divisive conservative politician in France, according to polls conducted at the beginning of 2004.Sarkozy has sought to ease the sometimes tense relationships between the general French population and the Muslim community. Unlike the Catholic Church in France with their official leaders or Protestants with their umbrella organisations, the French Muslim community had a lack of structure with no group that could legitimately deal with the French government on their behalf. Sarkozy supported the foundation in May 2003 of the private non-profit Conseil français du culte musulman ("French Council of the Muslim Faith"), an organisation meant to be representative of French Muslims. In addition, Sarkozy has suggested amending the 1905 law on the separation of Church and State, mostly in order to be able to finance mosques and other Muslim institutions with public funds so that they are less reliant on money from outside of France.
Minister of Finance
During his short appointment as Minister of Finance, Sarkozy was responsible for introducing a number of policies. The degree to which this reflected libéralisme (a hands-off approach to running the economy) or more traditional French state dirigisme (intervention) is controversial. He resigned the day following his election as president of the UMP.In September 2004, Sarkozy oversaw the reduction of the government ownership stake in France Télécom from 50.4 percent to 41 percent. Sarkozy backed a partial nationalisation of the engineering company Alstom decided by his predecessor when the company was exposed to bankruptcy in 2003. In June 2004, Sarkozy reached an agreement with the major retail chains in France to concertedly lower prices on household goods by an average of two percent; the success of this measure is disputed, with studies suggesting that the decrease was close to one percent in September. Taxes: Sarkozy avoided taking a position on the ISF (solidarity tax on wealth). This is considered an ideological symbol by many on the left and right. Some in the business world and on the liberal right, such as Alain Madelin, wanted it abolished. For Sarkozy, that would have risked being categorised by the left as a gift to the richest classes of society at a time of economic difficulties.
Villepin government
Second term as Minister of the Interior
During his second term at the Ministry of the Interior, Sarkozy was initially more discreet about his ministerial activities: instead of focusing on his own topic of law and order, many of his declarations addressed wider issues, since he was expressing his opinions as head of the UMP party.However, the civil unrest in autumn 2005 put law enforcement in the spotlight again. Sarkozy was accused of having provoked the unrest by calling young delinquents from housing projects "rabble" ("racaille") in Argenteuil near Paris, and controversially suggested cleansing the minority suburbs with a Kärcher. After the accidental death of two youths, which sparked the riots, Sarkozy first blamed it on "hoodlums" and gangsters. These remarks were sharply criticised by many on the left wing and by a member of his own government, Delegate Minister for Equal Opportunities Azouz Begag.
After the rioting, he made a number of announcements on future policy: selection of immigrants, greater tracking of immigrants, and a reform on the 1945 ordinance government justice measures for young delinquents.
UMP leader
Before he was elected President of France, Sarkozy was president of UMP, the French conservative party, elected with 85 percent of the vote. During his presidency, the number of members has significantly increased. In 2005, he supported a "yes" vote in the French referendum on the European Constitution, but the "No" vote won.Throughout 2005, Sarkozy called for radical changes in France's economic and social policies. These calls culminated in an interview with Le Monde on 8 September 2005, during which he claimed that the French had been misled for 30 years by false promises. Among other issues:
Such policies are what are called in France libéral (that is, in favour of laissez-faire economic policies) or, with a pejorative undertone, ultra-libéral. Sarkozy rejects this label of libéral and prefers to call himself a pragmatist.
Sarkozy opened another avenue of controversy by declaring that he wanted a reform of the immigration system, with quotas designed to admit the skilled workers needed by the French economy. He also wants to reform the current French system for foreign students, saying that it enables foreign students to take open-ended curricula in order to obtain residency in France; instead, he wants to select the best students to the best curricula in France.
In early 2006, the French parliament adopted a controversial bill known as DADVSI, which reforms French copyright law. Since his party was divided on the issue, Sarkozy stepped in and organised meetings between various parties involved. Later, groups such as the Odebi League and EUCD.info alleged that Sarkozy personally and unofficially supported certain amendments to the law, which enacted strong penalties against designers of peer-to-peer systems.
Presidential campaign
Sarkozy was a likely candidate for the presidency in 2007; in an often-repeated comment made on television channel France 2, when asked by a journalist whether he thought about the presidential election when he shaved in the morning, Sarkozy commented, "not just when I shave".On 14 January 2007, Sarkozy was chosen by the UMP to be its candidate in the 2007 presidential election. Sarkozy, who was running unopposed, won 98 percent of the votes. Of the 327,000 UMP members who could vote, 69 percent participated in the online ballot.
In February 2007 Sarkozy appeared on a televised debate on TF1 where he expressed his support for affirmative action and the freedom to work overtime. Despite his opposition to same-sex marriage, he advocated civil unions and the possibility for same-sex partners to inherit under the same regime as married couples. The law was voted in July 2007.
On 7 February, Sarkozy decided in favour of a projected second, non-nuclear, aircraft carrier for the national Navy (adding to the nuclear Charles de Gaulle), during an official visit in Toulon with Defence Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie. "This would allow permanently having an operational ship, taking into account the constraints of maintenance", he explained. On 21 March, President Jacques Chirac announced his support for Sarkozy. Chirac pointed out that Sarkozy had been chosen as presidential candidate for the ruling UMP party, and said: "So it is totally natural that I give him my vote and my support." To focus on his campaign, Sarkozy stepped down as interior minister on 26 March.
During the campaign, rival candidates had accused Sarkozy of being a "candidate for brutality" and of presenting hard-line views about France's future. Opponents also accused him of courting conservative voters in policy-making in a bid to capitalise on right-wing sentiments among some communities. However, his popularity was sufficient to see him polling as the frontrunner throughout the later campaign period, consistently ahead of rival Socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal.
The first round of the presidential election was held on 22 April 2007. Sarkozy came in first with 31.18 percent of the votes, ahead of Ségolène Royal of the Socialists with 25.87 percent. In the second round, Sarkozy came out on top to win the election with 53.06 percent of the votes ahead of Ségolène Royal with 46.94 percent. In his speech immediately following the announcement of the election results, Sarkozy stressed the need for France's modernisation, but also called for national unity, mentioning that Royal was in his thoughts. In that speech, he claimed "The French have chosen to break with the ideas, habits and behaviour of the past. I will restore the value of work, authority, merit and respect for the nation."
Political career
President of the French Republic : Since 2007.Co-Prince of Andorra: Since 2007
Governmental functions
Minister of Budget and government's spokesman : 1993–1995.
Minister of Communication and government's spokesman : 1994–1995.
Minister of State, minister of Interior, of the Internal Security and Local Freedoms : 2002–2004.
Minister of State, minister of Economy, Finance and Industry : March–November 2004 (resignation).
Minister of State, minister of Interior and Planning : 2005–2007 (resignation).
Electoral mandates
European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament : July–September 1999 (Resignation). Elected in 1999.
National Assembly of France
Member of the National Assembly of France for Hauts-de-Seine (6th constituency) : 1988–1993 (became minister in 1993) / 1995–2002 (became minister in 2002) / March–June 2005 (became minister in June 2005). Elected in 1988, reelected in 1993, 1995, 1997, 2002, 2005.
Regional Council
Regional councillor of Île-de-France : 1983–1988 (Resignation). Elected in 1986.
General Council
President of the General Council of Hauts-de-Seine : 2004–2007 (Resignation, became President of the French Republic in 2007).
Vice-president of the General Council of Hauts-de-Seine : 1986–1988 (Resignation).
General councillor of Hauts-de-Seine : 1985–1988 / 2004–2007 (Resignation, became President of the French Republic in 2007).
Municipal Council
Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine : 1983–2002 (Resignation). Reelected in 1989, 1995, and 2001.
Deputy-mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine : 2002-2007 (Resignation).
Municipal councillor of Neuilly-sur-Seine : 1977–2007 (Resignation). Reelected in 1983, 1989, 1995, and 2001.
Political functions
President of the Union for a Popular Movement : 2004–2007 (resignation, became President of the French Republic in 2007). Elected in 2004.
President of the Rally for the Republic : April–October 1999.
General secretary of the Rally for the Republic : 1998–1999.
Deputy general secretary of the Rally for the Republic : 1992–1993.
Presidency
On 6 May 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy became the sixth person to be elected President of the Fifth Republic (which was established in 1958), and the 23rd president in French history. He is the first French president to have been born after World War II.The official transfer of power from Jacques Chirac took place on 16 May at 11:00 am (9:00 UTC) at the Élysée Palace, where he was given the authorization codes of the French nuclear arsenal. In the afternoon, the new President flew to Berlin to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Under Sarkozy's government, François Fillon replaced Dominique de Villepin as Prime Minister. Sarkozy appointed Bernard Kouchner, the left-wing founder of Médecins Sans Frontières, as his foreign minister, leading to Kouchner's expulsion from the Socialist Party. In addition to Kouchner, three more Sarkozy ministers are from the left, including Eric Besson, who served as Ségolène Royal's economic adviser at the beginning of her campaign. Sarkozy also appointed seven women to form a total cabinet of 15; one, Justice Minister Rachida Dati, is the first woman of Northern African origin to serve in a French cabinet. Of the 15, two attended the elite École nationale d'administration (ENA). The ministers were reorganised, with the controversial creation of a 'Ministry of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Co-Development'—given to his right-hand man Brice Hortefeux—and of a 'Ministry of Budget, Public Accounts and Civil Administration'—handed out to Éric Wœrth, supposed to prepare the replacement of only a third of all civil servants who retire. However, after the 17 June parliamentary elections, the Cabinet has been adjusted to 15 ministers and 16 deputy ministers, totalling 31 officials.
Shortly after taking office, Sarkozy began negotiations with Colombian president Álvaro Uribe and the left-wing guerrilla FARC, regarding the release of hostages held by the rebel group, especially Franco-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt. According to some sources, Sarkozy himself asked for Uribe to release FARC's "chancellor" Rodrigo Granda. Furthermore, he announced on 24 July 2007, that French and European representatives had obtained the extradition of the Bulgarian nurses detained in Libya to their country. In exchange, he signed with Gaddafi security, health care and immigration pacts—and a $230 million (168 million euros) MILAN antitank missile sale. The contract was the first made by Libya since 2004, and was negotiated with MBDA, a subsidiary of EADS. Another 128 millions euros contract would have been signed, according to Tripoli, with EADS for a TETRA radio system. The Socialist Party (PS) and the Communist Party (PCF) criticised a "state affair" and a "barter" with a "Rogue state". The leader of the PS, François Hollande, requested the opening of a parliamentary investigation.
On 8 June 2007, during the 33rd G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Sarkozy set a goal of reducing French CO2 emissions by 50 percent by 2050 in order to prevent global warming. He then pushed forward Socialist Dominique Strauss-Kahn as European nominee to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Critics alleged that Sarkozy proposed to nominate Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the IMF to deprive the Socialist Party of one of its more popular figures.
In 2010, a study of :Yale and Columbia universities ranked France the most respectful country of the G20 concerning the environment.
The UMP, Sarkozy's party, won a majority at the June 2007 legislative election, although by less than expected. In July, the UMP majority, seconded by the Nouveau Centre, ratified one of Sarkozy's electoral promises, which was to partially revoke the inheritance tax. The inheritance tax formerly brought eight billion euros into state coffers. Sarkozy's UMP majority prepared a budget that reduced taxes, in particular for upper middle-class people, allegedly in an effort to boost GDP growth, but did not reduce state expenditures. He was criticised by the European Commission for doing so.
Sarkozy broke with the custom of amnestying traffic tickets and of releasing thousands of prisoners from overcrowded jails on Bastille Day, a tradition that Napoleon had started in 1802 to commemorate the storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution.
Sarkozy's government issued a decree on 7 August 2007 to generalise a voluntary biometric profiling program of travellers in airports. The program, called 'Parafes', was to use fingerprints. The new database would be interconnected with the Schengen Information System (SIS) as well as with a national database of wanted persons (FPR). The Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL) protested against this new decree, opposing itself to the recording of fingerprints and to the interconnection between the SIS and the FPR.
On 21 July 2008, the French parliament passed constitutional reforms which Sarkozy had made one of the key pledges of his presidential campaign. The vote was 539 to 357, one vote over the three-fifths majority required; the changes are not yet finalized. They would introduce a two-term limit for the presidency, and end the president's right of collective pardon. They would allow the president to address parliament in-session, and parliament, to set its own agenda. They would give parliament a veto over some presidential appointments, while ending government control over parliament's committee system. He has claimed that these reforms strengthen parliament, while some opposition socialist lawmakers have described it as a "consolidation of a monocracy".
On 23 July 2008, parliament voted the "loi de modernisation de l'économie" (Modernization of the Economy Law) which loosened restrictions on retail prices and reduced limitations on the creation of businesses. The Government has also made changes to long-standing French work-hour regulations, allowing employers to negotiate overtime with employees and making all hours worked past the traditional French 35-hour week tax-free.
However, as a result of the global financial crisis that came to a head in September 2008, Sarkozy has returned to the state interventionism of his predecessors, declaring that "laissez-faire capitalism is over" and denouncing the "dictatorship of the market". Confronted with the suggestion that he had become a socialist, he responded: "Have I become socialist? Perhaps." He has also pledged to create 100,000 state-subsidised jobs. This reversion to dirigisme is seen as an attempt to stem the growing popularity of revolutionary socialist leader Olivier Besancenot.
France wielded special international power when Sarkozy held the rotating EU Presidency from July 2008 through December 2008. Sarkozy has publicly stated his intention to attain EU approval of a progressive energy package before the end of his EU Presidency. This energy package would clearly define climate change objectives for the EU and hold members to specific reductions in emissions. In further support of his collaborative outlook on climate change, Sarkozy has led the EU into a partnership with China. On 6 December 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy, current Chairman of the European Union, met the Dalai Lama in Poland and outraged China, which has announced that it would postpone the China-EU summit indefinitely. On 3 April 2009, at the NATO Summit in Strasbourg, Sarkozy announced that France would offer asylum to a former Guantanamo captive. "We are on the path to failure if we continue to act as we have", French President Nicolas Sarkozy cautioned at the U.N. Climate Summit on 22 September 2009.
On 27 February 2011, Sarkozy did for the 10th time of his presidency a government reshuffle.
On 29 June 2011, he did a 11th government reshuffle, after the resignation of Christine Lagarde, who was appointed at the head of the IMF. 5 new ministers were appointed.
Middle East
Sarkozy played some vital roles in Middle East affairs. On 5 January 2009, Sarkozy called for a ceasefire plan for the Gaza Strip Conflict. The plan, which was jointly proposed by Sarkozy and Egyptian ex-President Hosni Mubarak envisions the continuation of the delivery of aid to Gaza and talks with Israel on border security, a key issue for Israel as it says Hamas smuggles its rockets into Gaza through the Egyptian border. Welcoming the proposal, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for a "ceasefire that can endure and that can bring real security".
Public image
Sarkozy was named the 68th best-dressed person in the world by Vanity Fair, alongside David Beckham and Brad Pitt. However, Sarkozy has also been named as the third worst-dressed person in the world by GQ, a listing that has been disputed. Beside publicizing, at times, and at others, refusing to publicise his ex-wife Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz's image, Sarkozy takes care of his own personal image, sometimes to the point of censorship—such as in the Paris Match affair, when he allegedly forced its director to resign following an article on his ex-wife and her affair with Publicis executive Richard Attias, or pressures exercised on the Journal du dimanche, which was preparing to publish an article concerning Ciganer-Albéniz's decision not to vote in the second round of the 2007 presidential election. In its 9 August 2007 edition, Paris Match retouched a photo of Sarkozy in order to erase a love handle. His official portrait destined for all French town halls was done by SIPA photographer Philippe Warrin, better known for his paparazzi work.Former Daily Telegraph journalist Colin Randall has highlighted Sarkozy's tighter control of his image and frequent interventions in the media: "he censors a book, or fires the chief editor of a weekly." Sarkozy is reported by Reuters to be sensitive about his height (believed to be ). He has been noted as wearing substantially heeled shoes and standing on hidden platforms, while the French media have pointed out that Carla Bruni frequently wears flats when in public with him. In 2009, this was the subject of a political row, when a worker at a factory where Sarkozy gave a speech said she was asked to stand next to him because she was of a similar height (this story was corroborated by some trade union officials). The president's office called the accusation "completely absurd and grotesque", while the Socialist Party mocked his fastidious preparation.
Sarkozy lost a suit against a manufacturer of Sarkozy voodoo dolls, in which he claimed that he had a right to his own image.
La Conquête
The biopic La Conquête is a film allegedly mocking the political career of Sarkozy, scheduled for viewing at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Controversies
Generally, Sarkozy is strongly disliked by the Left, and is also criticised by some on the Right, most vocally by supporters of Jacques Chirac and Dominique de Villepin, such as Jean-Louis Debré.The magazine Marianne accused Sarkozy of changing opinion in an Airbus affair. The French Communist Party's magazine L'Humanité accused Sarkozy of being a populist.
In 2004 Sarkozy co-authored a book, La République, les religions, l'espérance (The Republic, Religions, and Hope), in which he argued that the young should not be brought up solely on secular or republican values. He advocated reducing the separation of church and state, arguing for the government subsidy of mosques in order to encourage Islamic integration into French society. He opposes financing of religious institutions with funds from outside France. After meeting with Tom Cruise, Sarkozy was criticised by some for meeting with a member of the Church of Scientology, which is classified as a cult in France (see Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France). Sarkozy stated that "the roots of France are essentially Christian" at December 2007 speech in Rome. He called Islam "one of the greatest and most beautiful civilizations the world has known" at a speech in Riyadh in January 2008. Both comments drew criticism from Christians.
In the midst of a tense period and following the accidental death of an 11-year-old boy in the Paris suburb of La Courneuve in June 2005, Sarkozy quoted a local resident and vowed to clean the area out "with a Kärcher" (nettoyer la cité au Kärcher, referring to a well-known German brand of pressure-cleaning equipment), and two days before the 2005 Paris riots he referred to the criminal youth of the housing projects as voyous (thugs) and racaille, a slang term which can be translated into English as rabble, scum or riff-raff; the French Communist Party's publication L'Humanité branded this language as inappropriate.
In September 2005 Sarkozy was accused of pushing for a hasty inquiry into an arson attack on a police station in Pau, of which the alleged perpetrators were acquitted for lack of proof. On 22 June 2005 Sarkozy told law enforcement officials that he had questioned the Minister of Justice about the future of "the judge" who had freed a man on parole who had later committed a murder.
Sarkozy opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. However, he was critical of the way Jacques Chirac and his foreign minister Dominique de Villepin expressed France's opposition to the war. Talking at the French-American Foundation in Washington, D.C. on 12 September 2006, he denounced what he called the "French arrogance" and said: "It is bad manners to embarrass one's allies or sound like one is taking delight in their troubles." He added: "We must never again turn our disagreements into a crisis." Jacques Chirac reportedly said in private that Sarkozy's speech was "appalling" and "a shameful act".
Even though his current foreign minister Bernard Kouchner (excluded from the Socialist party after his inclusion in François Fillon's government) had been one of the few supporters in France of removal of Saddam Hussein from power, Sarkozy's stance on the war has not changed.
A few weeks before the first round of the 2007 presidential elections, Sarkozy said during an interview with philosopher Michel Onfray that he thinks disorders such as paedophilia and depression have a genetic as well as social basis, saying "I don't agree with you, I'd be inclined to think that one is born a paedophile, and it is actually a problem that we do not know how to cure this disease"; he also claimed that suicides among youth were linked to genetic predispositions by stating, "I don't want to give parents a complex. It's not exclusively the parents' fault every time a youngster commits suicide." These statements were criticised by some scientists, including controversial geneticist Axel Kahn. Sarkozy later said, "What part is innate and what part is acquired? At least let's debate it, let's not close the door to all debate."
On 27 July 2007, Sarkozy delivered a speech in Senegal, written by Henri Guaino, in which he made reference to "African peasants". The controversial remarks were widely condemned by Africans, who viewed them as racist. South African president Thabo Mbeki praised Sarkozy's speech, which raised criticism by some in the South African media.
On 23 February 2008, Sarkozy was filmed by a reporter for French newspaper Le Parisien having the following exchange while visiting the Paris International Agricultural Show:
While quickly crossing the hall Saturday morning, in the middle of the crowd, Sarkozy encounters a recalcitrant visitor who refuses to shake his hand. "Ah no, don't touch me!", said the man. The president retorted immediately: "Get lost, then." "You're making me dirty", yelled the man. With a frozen smile, Sarkozy says, his teeth glistening, a refined "Get lost, then, poor dumb-ass, go."This exchange has been cause for much humour and debate regarding its propriety in the French press. It should also be noted that a precise translation into English has many possible variations.
On 28 August 2008, Hervé Eon, from Laval came to an anti-Sarkozy demonstration with a sign bearing the words Casse-toi pov' con, the exact words Sarkozy had uttered. Eon was arrested for causing offence to the presidential function and the prosecutor, who in France indirectly reports to the president, requested a fine of 1000€. The court eventually imposed a symbolic 30€ suspended fine, which has generally been interpreted as a defeat for the prosecution side. This incident was widely reported on, in particular as Sarkozy, as president of the Republic, is immune from prosecution, notably restricting Eon's rights to sue Sarkozy for defamation.
On 8 November 2009, Sarkozy posted on his Facebook page a picture supposedly showing him chipping away at the Berlin Wall during its fall. However, the dates were inconsistent and the picture was proven to be fake – and later archived footage confirmed this. This news of forgery spread in France, and later evolved into a meme, "Sarkozy Was There," where Sarkozy is photoshopped into historical events.
On 5 July 2010, following its investigations on the Bettencourt affair, online newspaper Media Part ran an article in which Claire Thibout, an ex-accountant working for Liliane Bettencourt, accused Nicolas Sarkozy and Eric Woerth of receiving illegal campaign donations in 2007, in cash.
On 30 July 2010, Sarkozy suggested a new policy of security, and he proposed "stripping foreign-born French citizens who opted to acquire their nationality at their majority of their citizenship if they are convicted of threatening the life of a police officer or other serious crimes". This policy has been criticized for example by the US newspaper The New York Times, by Sarkozy's political opponents, including the leader of the PS, Martine Aubry,) and by experts of French Law, including the ex-member of the Constitutional Council of France, Robert Badinter, who said that such action would be unconstitutional.
Awards and honours
French honours
Other countries
Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (2008—United Kingdom) Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III (2004—Spain)
Notes
Further reading
, interviews with Michel Denisot , Grand livre du mois 1995 , subject(s): Pratiques politiques—France—1990–, France—Politique et gouvernement—1997–2002 , series: Les dossiers du "Canard enchaîné" 89 Alvarez-Montalvo, Marta (9 July 2004): "¿Quién teme a Nicolas Sarkozy? El ministro de economía francés se postula como próximo candidato a las presidenciales de 2007", in Epoca ([Madrid] : Difusora de Informacion Periodica S.A., DINPESA, 9 July 2004), number 1012, p. 46(2), 3 pages, 829 words, available online , subject(s): Sarkozy, Nicolas (1955–)—Caricatures et dessins humoristiques , Grand Livre du mois 2004, subject(s): Chirac, Jacques (1932–), Sarkozy, Nicolas (1955–), France—Politique et gouvernement—1995– , subject(s): Laïcité—France—1990–, Islam—France—1990–
External links
Official websites
President of France Nicolas Sarkozy Construire Ensemble—Official web site of the presidential campaign Website of the UMP, Sarkozy's party Official personal website Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations during the General Debate of the 63rd Session, 23 September 2008. Nicolas Sarkozy addressed the Assembly both as President of France and as President of the European Union
Press
Related contents
Extended biography by CIDOB Foundation Sarkozy's opinion poll tracker Some of Sarkozy's quotations|- |- |- |- |- |- |-
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