Main focus of Friday, December 2, 2011

Sarkozy's path through the crisis

Sarkozy's speech was also a response to growing flak from opposition on the Left. (©AP)

In a keynote speech in Toulon on Thursday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy defended his policy in the crisis and presented his views on enhanced European cooperation. He presented a courageous analysis of France's weakness, some commentators write, while others criticise Sarkozy's failings when it comes to Europe.

Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic

French President Nicolas Sarkozy took a courageous stand with his blood, sweat and tears speech, the business paper Hospodářské noviny writes: "Three years ago in Toulon Sarkozy made clear for the first time the gravity of the crisis. Yesterday in the same location he evoked a fear that paralyses consumers and spooks investors. Many French people may not have been happy that Sarkozy expressed what people outside France have long been saying: namely that for decades one of Europe's biggest countries has lived above its means. It takes courage to say something like that just a few months before elections. But Sarkozy will need even more courage than that next week when he has to present an action plan for the crisis together with German Chancellor Merkel at the upcoming EU summit." (02/12/2011)

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Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

Le Figaro - France

President Sarkozy's statements in Toulon were excellent, the conservative daily Le Figaro writes, because finally someone is telling the truth about the crisis: "One can accuse Nicolas Sarkozy of many things after this speech in Toulon, but at least he told the people the truth. Be it about finance capitalism's mechanisms for creating debt, the transfer of private into public debt, the credit-based financing of our social system or the two cardinal errors committed by the French, namely setting the retirement age at 60 and reducing the working week to 35 hours. Sarkozy analyses the frightening situation with incontestable precision. Yes, France and most other countries of the Eurozone are unbearably deep in debt. We must radically change our attitude and enter a 'debt reduction cycle' as the president urged." (02/12/2011)

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Libération - France

With his speech in Toulon President Sarkozy has shown that his political views have not matured with the crisis, the left-liberal daily Libération observes: "Sarkozy's first election meeting was a flop. Firstly, because he failed to hit the right note. ... Secondly he manoeuvred himself into a logical impasse by evoking for the ten thousandth time the malaise of the 35-hour working week, the need to 'work more' and do overtime. Why didn't he fix these things when it lay in his power to do so? ... Finally, in this crisis situation he said that the world should remain as it is, defending a non-federal Europe and saying nothing new about the dysfunctional financial markets. ... Behind all the flowery chauvinistic lyricism the only real news in this speech is the renunciation of any form of political will." (02/12/2011)

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La Stampa - Italy

President Sarkozy's speech was weak in comparison to that of the new chief of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi, finds the liberal daily La Stampa: "Yesterday morning Mario Draghi charted the way out of the crisis: only a political agreement among the countries on a common economic government can save the euro. But Nicolas Sarkozy is still afraid of any solution that would see France subjected to supervision by a supra-national body. He only dared take a tiny step forward towards the automatic sanctions against debt sinners proposed by Berlin. He made no mention of which institution should take control, or what it would look like. France remains the country that struggles most against tougher discipline, above all when it comes to endowing the European Commission with new powers." (02/12/2011)

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Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

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