The Bulgarian Post
2007-05-16 09:01:52

Nicolas Sarkozy succeeded Jacques Chirac as French president in a simple ceremony, where he promised to unite France and restore national pride.

Sarkozy was invested under the chandeliers of the Elysee Palace, which will be his home for the next five years following his comprehensive election victory earlier this month.

In his inaugural address in the gilded Salle des Fetes, shortly after his predecessor drove off into retirement, Sarkozy vowed he would not disappoint the French people. "I will defend the independence of France. I will defend the identity of France," said the conservative leader, who is 52 and the first French head of state to be born after World War Two.

"There is a need to unite the French people ... and to meet commitments because never before has (public) confidence been so shaken and so fragile," he said in an apparent dig at Chirac, a former political mentor with whom he now has strained relations. He also pledged to put the fight against global warming and the defense of human rights at the heart of his foreign policy.

His first gesture after his speech was to greet family members including his wife Cecilia, who has hardly been seen in public this year fuelling relentless speculation about their marriage, to whom he gave an affectionate caress on the cheek.

Sarkozy is widely expected to name moderate conservative Francois Fillon as his prime minister on Thursday, and draft centrists and high-profile leftists into a streamlined cabinet whose line-up will probably be announced on Friday.

Chirac, who ruled for 12 years, met Sarkozy for half an hour in private to give him the launch codes for France's nuclear strike force. He then left the Elysee to cheers, with Sarkozy applauding and waving goodbye from the palace courtyard. The office he inherits wields more powers than any other elected Western leader.

A 21-gun salute resounded near the tomb of the emperor Napoleon across the river Seine as Constitutional Council President Jean-Louis Debre proclaimed Sarkozy the sixth president of France's Fifth Republic.

"From this day on and for duration of your mandate you embody France, symbolize the republic and represent all the French people," Debre said.

Sarkozy inherits a fractured society, dispirited by years of high unemployment, and says he will take a more hands-on approach than his predecessor, who was criticized for failing to introduce badly-needed reforms in hidebound France.

He wants to be judged on his record in trying to revive the economy and got immediate good news on Wednesday with data showing France's private sector adding jobs at the fastest rate in six years and growth seen picking up in the second quarter. 

But unions and students have warned Sarkozy, a law and order hardliner who mixes pro-market economic views and state intervention, not to ram through changes without negotiations.

Looking to reach across political divides, Sarkozy is expected to name Bernard Kouchner, a Socialist former health minister and human rights campaigner, as his foreign minister.

 Print This Article      Email This Article

 The Bulgarian Post: Contact Us | About Us | Advertise With Us | RSS