Energetic1 and aggressive2, Nicolas Sarkozy was chosen as the new French President on May 6, 2007. The new leader will begin his five-year term, replacing Jacque Chirac and marking a new beginning in the old country.
“The French people have decided to break with the ideas, behavior and habits of the past. And I will carry it out with the power they gave me,” said Sarkozy after his victory.
The 52-year-old Sarkozy is the first French President who was born after World War II. The new leader has promised to revive3 the French economy and rebuild “the pride of being French”. Yet he faces a great number of difficulties.
Slow Economy
Over the past years, France has failed to reduce huge government debts. France has also been hit with a slow economy and a high unemployment rate, which has caused anger from the public toward the government.
Sarkozy has put forward a basket of plans for change. But whether they will work remains uncertain.
Immigrant4 Trouble
Integration5 is a serious problem in France. Many suburbs built for immigrants in the 1960s and 1970s are almost slums6.
Unemployment is two to three times higher for immigrants than the national average. People there complain of discrimination7 and violence often happens. However, the new president will tighten control on immigrants and improve security by forceful means.
Still, Sarkozy, a child of Hungarian and French parents, has promised to be fair to all who live in France, no matter where they come from. “I will be the president of all the French people,” Sarkozy said.
Relation with the EU
As one of the two engines driving forward the European Union, France’s stand is important to the development of the body.
In his victory speech Sarkozy made it clear that “today, France is back in Europe,” showing his ambition to bring France closer to the EU.
“I urge our European partners to hear the voice of the French people who wish to be protected,” he said.
However, the French voters rejected setting up an EU Constitution in 2005, pushing the union’s project into danger. How to make up for it is a big issue facing the ambitious new leader.
China on His Mind
Although the new leader isn’t as infatuated8 with Chinese culture as Jacque Chirac, experts said China-France ties will not see great ups and downs after his taking office.
It is reported that Sarkozy got on very well with Chinese immigrants when he was the mayor of Neuilly. He likes Chinese food a lot and he has visited China three times.
A Risk Taker
“Other politicians don’t want to take risks, but he will take any risk,” said Brice Hortefeux, one of Sarkozy’s closest friends and political allies.
Sarkozy was born in Paris on Jan. 28, 1955, the son of an immigrant. However, his father abandoned the family and left them dependent on Sarkozy’s maternal grandfather.
“I was fashioned by the humiliations9 of childhood,” Sarkozy told a magazine in 1994.
His mother finished her law degree, took a job and sent her sons to a private high school. Sarkozy earned a law degree and became a town council member at 22.
But he got his real start in politics as a long-haired, bell-bottom10 youth leader of the Union of Democrats for the Republic. That party was led by Jacque Chirac, who was serving his first term as prime minister.
Since then, Sarkozy has shown himself to be nakedly ambitious, pragmatic11 and calculating12.
Sarkozy’s brash13 manner and strong speaking ability caught Chirac’s eye and won him help from other party leaders. Yet Sarkozy was not afraid to go around his elders when the chance arose.
He unexpectedly challenged a senior politician for the job of mayor of the Paris suburb of Neuilly in 1983. He became the youngest mayor in France at 28.
As a mayor, he got his first national attention in 1993 when he negotiated to free schoolchildren taken hostage14 by a crazy man with a bomb. The man was eventually15 killed by police, and the children were freed.
Sarkozy later served as budget minister under Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. Despite a falling out with Chirac, he was named the country’s interior minister in 2002, and finance minister in 2004.
But Sarkozy’s personal life has been less successful than his public one. In 1996, he divorced his first wife, with whom he had two sons, and married Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz, with whom he had another son.
For years, Ciganer-Albeniz acted as Sarkozy’s closest aide, but she left him to have a public affair with another man in 2005.
The couple have since reconciled16, but she has been notably absent from her husband’s presidential campaign. This has fueled rumors that he will inhabit17 Elysee Palace alone.
2007年5月6日，精力充沛、生性好斗的尼古拉·萨科齐当选法国总统。这位政坛新巨头接替雅克·希拉克，开始了任期5年的总统生涯，带领这个老迈的国度迈开了全新的一步……
萨科齐在竞选获胜后说：“法国人民已经决定与旧观念、旧习俗、旧传统决裂。我将用人民赋予我的权力，将这种决裂进行到底！”
现年52岁的萨科齐是法国首位二战后出生的总统。他发誓要重振法国经济，复兴法国的自豪感。但是，他面临一系列的挑战。
经济发展缓慢
在过去数年里，法国未能削减巨额的政府债务。法国面对的是经济发展缓慢、失业率居高不下等难题，这些引起了公众对政府的强烈不满。
萨科齐提出了一揽子改革计划，但能否奏效则是一个悬念。
移民问题很棘手
在法国，民族融合是一个非常严峻的问题。上世纪60年代、70年代为移民修建的郊区几乎都是贫民窟。
移民的失业率比法国平均水平高出两到三倍，他们抱怨法国的种族岐视，暴力事件时有发生。萨科齐总统宣称要加强对移民的控制，采取强力手段改善安全状况。
不过，兼有匈牙利与法国血统的萨科齐总统（父亲是匈牙利移民、母亲是法国人）承诺公平对待所有居住在法国的人——不管他们来自何方。他说：“我是全体法国人的总统。”
与欧共体关系
作为欧共体发展的双引擎之一，法国的立场对欧共体的发展至关重要。
在大选获胜后的演讲中，萨科齐总统明确表示：“今天法国又回到了欧洲，”明示了他将使法国更加靠近欧共体的雄心。
他说：“我希望欧洲伙伴能够听到法国人民要求得到保护的声音。”
但是，法国投票人却在2005年拒绝制订一部《欧盟宪法》，使得欧共体的发展步入险境。如何作出弥补是雄心勃勃的萨科齐总统必须面对的一大难题。
心系中国
虽然萨科齐总统不像希拉克总统那样对中国文化着迷，但是，专家指出，他的上任不会导致中法关系大起大落。
据报道，在担任勒伊市市长期间，他与中国移民相处得非常融洽。他非常喜爱中国美食，曾三次访问中国。
冒险的改革家
“其他政治家都不想冒险，可他却不避风险。”萨科齐总统的密友、政治盟友之一——布里斯·奥特佛说。
萨科齐1955年1月28日出生于巴黎，是移民的后代。不过，他的生父抛弃了家人，他们只得依靠外祖父过日子。
1994年萨科齐在接受一家杂志采访时说：“童年蒙受的屈辱对我的一生影响巨大。”
后来他的母亲获得了法学学位，找到了工作，把孩子们送进了一家私立中学。萨科齐也获得了法学学位，在年仅22岁时当选市议员。
他真正步入政坛，则是蓄着长发、穿着喇叭裤成为法国“人民运动联盟”的青年领袖。该联盟是由当时的法国总理希拉克在第一届任期内创建的。
从此，萨科齐就以显露无遗的雄心、直言实干与精明强干而著称于世。
萨科齐雷厉风行的工作作风、令人折服的口才令希拉克刮目相看，在各党派领导人之间也左右逢源。但是，只要有机会，他是不会甘居人下的。
1983年，他就出人意料地向一位资深政客挑战巴黎市郊勒伊市市长一职，28岁时成为法国最年轻的市长。
作为市长，第一次引起国人注意是1993年他与一位手持炸弹、劫持小学生作人质的疯子谈判。最后歹徒被警察击毙，孩子们被成功解救。
在厄多瓦·巴拉迪尔任总理期间，萨科齐出任预算部长。虽然与希拉克闹翻了，但在2002年他还是被提名为法国内政部部长，2004年又出任财政部长。
不过，萨科齐的个人生活不像从政这样一帆风顺。1996年，他与育有二子的前妻离婚，娶了塞西莉亚·茜佳勒-阿尔贝尼兹，又生一子。
多年来，塞西莉亚一直是萨科齐最亲密的助手，但在2005年她却离开丈夫与另一男人公开相好。
后来俩人重归于好，但在丈夫竞选总统期间她又不见了身影。这一度引发传闻，说萨科齐要独居爱丽舍宫。
1. energetic adj. 精力充沛的，充满活力的
2. aggressive adj. 富于攻击性的
3. revive v. 重振，振兴
4. immigrant n. 移民
5. integration n. 融合
6. slum n. 贫民窟
7. discrimination n. 歧视
8. infatuated adj. 入迷的
9. humiliation n. 屈辱，耻辱
10. bell-bottomed 喇叭裤的
11. pragmatic adj. 注重实效的
12. calculating adj. 喜欢算计的
13. brash adj. 性急的
14. hostage n. 人质 take sb. hostage 扣押某人作为人质
15. eventually adv. 最终，最后
16. reconcile v. 和解
17. inhabit v. 居住于