Nicolas Paul St茅phane Sarkozy de Nagy-Bocsa, polling at 28.5 percent, was born in 1955 in Paris to a Hungarian immigrant. His political career was launched when he became the youngest mayor of any large French town (Neuilly-sur-Seine) and rose to become one of Europe鈥檚 most talked about and visible political figures.
He put France back on the international stage by taking a leading role in resolving last year鈥檚 violent political standoff in the Ivory Coast and the foreign intervention in Libya. He and his foreign policy team, led by Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, command respect in European capitals.
Sarkozy鈥檚 whirlwind 鈥渃risis leader鈥� style has prompted nicknames like 鈥淪uperSarko鈥� and the 鈥淥mnipresident.鈥� In office he logged numerous French 鈥渇irsts,鈥� including the youngest elected president, the first to be divorced and re-married, and the first (in February) to ask a German leader to campaign for him.
He attributes his famous drive and competitiveness to humiliations suffered as a child. He was skeptical of the radical student movement of 1968 and aligned himself with the center-right Gaullist tradition.
He became interior minister in 2002, earning a tough reputation for supporting stricter police controls in neighborhoods after riots in 2005. On May 6, 2007, promising a 鈥渞upture鈥� from the bloated French welfare state, he defeated Socialist Royal, 53.06 percent to 46.9 percent.
After the 2008 financial crisis, he dropped that platform and is now running as the protector of the ordinary Frenchmen and, in a time of uncertainty and debt, the experienced captain. He supports austerity and a balanced budget. He has seriously flirted with nationalist and populist measures, and passed legislation banning the full-length veil for female Muslims.
He has become more skeptical of the EU and recently said he will cut immigration from 180,000 to 100,000 a year, a sop to the French far right and earning him a description in The Wall Street Journal title as
While highly visible and rarely out of the headlines, Sarkozy is suspicious of the academic and media world, favoring a direct appeal, president to citizen, 鈥渕e to you,鈥� as Napoleon Bonaparte did.
