Day one in Sarkoland
Give me just another few hours to completely bow to le suffrage universel and embrace this new reality: Sarkozy president - "mon président". I'll have to rehearse that one in front of the mirror every morning, a little like Antoine Doinel, François Truffaut's character in Baisers Volés (Stolen Kisses), a film shot in 1968. Oh, 1968, better erase this date from my memory as my new president is suggesting. Didn't he say last week that he wanted "to liquidate the 68 legacy"? Yes, and to make the French work harder (I wonder what I've been doing since the age of 17 when I started working part-time while studying).
This morning, day one of the Sarko era, I had my first argument with a compatriot. 8am, Champs Elysées, I need a cab. I go to the first one in line at the taxi rank but the guy shakes his head and says "non", it's his espresso break. Ah, so I go to the second in line who is chatting to a colleague. They both say "non". You don't want to work? I ask, and add, but it's over now, everybody has to wake up early and work, haven't you heard the president? "Sarkozy is our buddy but we won't budge until the guy at the front has had his coffee. It's his turn to take customers, not ours." With friends like this, Sarko's reforms may prove more difficult to implement than he thinks.
Right, let's be serious for a moment. My compatriots have elected, in a clear-cut vote, 53.1% against 46.9%, Nicolas Sarkozy. First question: who are they? According to the first results heard this morning at 6am on France Culture, in terms of age, they are mainly senior citizens aged 50-plus, or pensioners. Class-wise, they belong to the more privileged. Together, they firmly believe that they should be less taxed, become richer and that the other half of the population doesn't work as hard as it should; in other words, as the pharmacist I went to yesterday (to buy aspirin) said to his junior employee, "the other France is lazy and just living off benefits". Sarkozy has tailored his programme for them: he promises to cut inheritance tax, lower income tax, limit the scope of trade unions during strikes, encourage people to become home-owners and liberalise higher education.
These are only some of the immediate measures to be taken in July, ie as soon as the new parliament is elected, presumably with a large majority for the UMP, Sarkozy's party. Why in July? Sarkozy knows better than to wait for la rentrée, in September, a period when the French, having recharged their batteries during the summer holidays, are more likely to loudly vent their disagreement. Everybody remembers the 1995 winter of discontent when the country reacted very badly to irksome then prime minister, Alain Juppé, and his attempt at reforms.
Second question: where do the Sarko voters come from? The north, east and southeast, while the west - Brittany - the centre and the southwest have remained on the left. Now, you can choose carefully where to go on holiday if you don't want to clash with your neighbour on matters of politics.
So what now that Mr Action Man has been elected? Well, nothing for three days: Monsieur le président is going on a retreat to try on his new shoes and "raise to the historical occasion". Perhaps we should all have three days off before he cracks his whip and makes us work like dogs. Not that it will make a great difference to me.
Read more about the French elections here.