France's disillusion extends beyond the country's president to its political class, economy and sense of social direction. The beneficiaries may include the far-right Marine Le Pen as well as the centre-left François Hollande, says Patrice de Beer.
An insipid economy, a tornado of scandal, anaemic support, an alienated core, internecine war on the right, a show of opposition unity - France’s president faces a perfect storm all of his making. But are these really Sarkozy’s last days, asks Patrice de Beer.
The ending of the legal case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn leaves France’s socialists still looking for a strategy - and a candidate - able to defeat Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012. They have a tough legacy to overcome, says Patrice de Beer.
The arrest in New York of the head of the International Monetary Fund and leading French politician on charges of sexual misconduct is a confusing and revelatory moment in France's public life. Whatever the legal outcome of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s case some uncomfortable truths have to be faced,
What you are asking from me is even more difficult than predicting the past, a past which is ever rewritten by politicians and “thinkers” in search of self vindication.
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An Arab world in transformation has found France’s elite shamed by its links with the old order. A control-freak president with base political instincts offers little hope for a better policy, says Patrice de Beer.
The Robin Hoods of the net challenge the culture of secrecy that has major states in its grip - and thus perform a service to democracy, says Patrice de Beer.
The popular rejection of Nicolas Sarkozy’s abrupt changes to France’s pension system is rooted in the institutional and ethical flaws that underlie the reform, says Patrice de Beer.
Nicolas Sarkozy’s buffeting and the left’s advance in regional elections are less important than France’s profound alienation from politics, says Patrice de Beer.
