Sarkozy's new modesty impresses

By Francois Murphy Reuters - Friday, April 25 05:09 pm

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy impressed commentators by striking a more humble tone in a live television broadcast, but a lack of fresh measures did little to win over a sceptical public worried about rising prices.

In a 100-minute interview on France's two top television channels on Thursday night, Sarkozy admitted he had made mistakes in his first year in office and said he understood the public's disappointment, but he would stick to his programme.

The show, which was watched by 11.7 million people, was billed as a bid to boost his popularity, which has fallen to record lows for a president 12 months into his term.

"It will probably take Nicolas Sarkozy time to win back the heart of the French people. Sometimes you have to accept unpopularity to get reforms to be accepted," pro-Sarkozy newspaper Le Figaro said in an editorial.

An OpinionWay poll of people who watched Sarkozy showed 51 percent found him unconvincing.

Sarkozy's combative style has drawn heavy criticism for not being "presidential" enough, and the calls grew louder after Sarkozy was filmed calling a critical bystander an "arsehole" at an agricultural fair in February.

"The president's suddenly more humble plea changes the set slightly. The play, however, remains exactly the same," left-wing daily Liberation said in an editorial.

Concern over rising food prices, disapproval over his public romance with pop star and former model Carla Bruni and a series of political hiccoughs have sent Sarkozy's approval ratings tumbling since he swept to power in last May's elections.

One survey published in Paris Match magazine on Thursday showed 72 percent of people were unhappy with his performance, 65 percent thought he hadn't kept campaign promises and just 17 percent thought he was better than his predecessors.

GIMMICK?

Sarkozy accepted he had a share of responsibility for the backlash against his relationship with Bruni, who is now his wife, adding that everything was now "in order" and declining further comment on his personal life.

He also offered little insight into how he would improve the standard of living of families struggling with rising prices.

"The crux of the problem was purchasing power. That is what the polls showed was by far the French people's main expectation. And on that point, I'm sorry but I think that globally he failed," Olivier Duhamel, a professor at politics university Sciences-Po, told LCI television.

The OpinionWay poll said 62 percent of respondents found him convincing on the overall need for reforms but that figure fell to 32 percent on the issue of purchasing power.

Sarkozy has said he aims to destroy the 35-hour work week and has passed legislation exempting overtime from tax in a bid to bolster people's working hours and their purchasing power.

He has also sought to reduce public spending through a raft of measures including reviews of ministries' expenditure and not replacing one in two retiring civil servants.

Analysts, however, doubt that such reforms will be enough to bring France's budget deficit to zero by 2012 as Sarkozy says he will, and the opposition have lambasted his 15 billion euros (11.9 billion pounds) in tax cuts as a concession to the rich.

(Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon)

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