Nicolas Sarkozy

Stories 421 - 440 | << Prev   Next >>

New French Prez Heads to Primary Country

Finally off the campaign trail, Sarkozy plans vacation in NH

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy will set aside French-US tensions when he visits New Hampshire on vacation this month. The trip to Lake Winnipesaukee appears to be purely leisure, the Boston Globe reports, but it may part of the new PM’s promise to improve trans-Atlantic relations. And the town of Wolfeboro already...

Sarko Backs Down on Public Sector Cuts

Retreats from promise to trim French civil servant rolls by 50%

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy has backed down from a campaign pledge to reform the sclerotic French civil service, says the Telegraph. The government has scuppered the president's vow to halve the number of civil servants, which Sarkozy had made a central feature of his policy of "rupture."

Mais Oui! French Prez Is Friend to Business

Sarkozy embraces entrepreneurs, pushes limits on worker's rights

(Newser) - France could see a longer work week and new limits on workers' right to strike if President Nicholas Sarkozy gets his way. He's already reduced wealth taxes on certain investments and practically eliminated the inheritance tax, the Los Angeles Times reports. But supporters insist he will not erode social benefits...

France Opens Probe Against Former PM

De Villepin will be grilled over Sarkozy smear campaign

(Newser) - Dominique de Villepin, France's former PM and a longtime rival of president Nicolas Sarkozy, will undergo a formal investigation for his alleged role in improperly smearing Sarkozy. De Villepin denies involvement in the scandal which may also implicate former president Jacques Chirac, but the announcement is seen as a step...

Sarko Cuts Nuke Deal With Gaddafi
Sarko Cuts
Nuke Deal
With Gaddafi
Jul 26, 2007 12:06 PM CDT

Sarko Cuts Nuke Deal With Gaddafi

French prez seeks to bolster ties with erstwhile pariah

(Newser) - French president Nicolas Sarkozy met with reformed outcast Muammar al-Gaddafi today, just one day after Libya released five Bulgarian nurses and one doctor in an effort to shed the country's rogue image. Sarkozy clinched a number of ventures  with the newly open economy, including a deal to build a nuclear...

Negotiations With Libya Draw Fire
Negotiations With Libya Draw Fire
Jul 25, 2007 12:02 PM CDT

Negotiations With Libya Draw Fire

Human rights groups say payment of millions amounts to ransom

(Newser) - The negotiations that led to the release of the medics imprisoned in Libya are under fire from human rights organizations, which say the payments to the families of children infected with HIV amount to ransom money, the Times reports. Libya ignored due process, took hostages, tortured and raped them, and...

Meddlesome Mme. Sarkozy Jeopardized Talks on Medics

First Lady hogged credit after liberation

(Newser) - The wife of the new French president gatecrashed delicate negotiations to free six foreign medical workers from a Libyan prison, then hogged the credit, Der Spiegel reports. After EU diplomats secured their release, Cecilia Sarkozy flew to Tripoli and escorted them to Bulgaria—making it appear she had won their...

Jailed Medics Freed, Pardoned
Jailed Medics Freed, Pardoned
Jul 24, 2007 7:15 AM CDT

Jailed Medics Freed, Pardoned

After eight years, the nurses go home

(Newser) - Six medics imprisoned by Libya on charges of infecting children with HIV are finally free today. EU officials struck a deal with Libya after years of negotiations, and the five nurses and one doctor were extradited to Bulgaria, where they were immediately pardoned by the Bulgarian president. In return, the...

Sarkozy and Merkel Face Off
Sarkozy and Merkel Face Off
Jul 16, 2007 6:02 PM CDT

Sarkozy and Merkel Face Off

Two ambitious heads of state struggle for European dominance

(Newser) - French president Nicolas Sarkozy is stepping up to challenge German chancellor Angela Merkel for the leadership of Europe, Der Spiegel reports, and the result  will be first-rate political spectacle. The two alpha heads of state, who met today in Toulouse, have very different styles: Merkel is restrained and accute; Sarkozy...

Pan-European Bastille Day 2007
Pan-European Bastille Day 2007
Jul 14, 2007 8:36 PM CDT

Pan-European Bastille Day 2007

(Newser) - France celebrated Bastille Day for the 127th time today, with a particularly eclectic celebration, as troops from all 27 EU nations marched in the parade down the Champs-Elysees.  It is also the first Bastille Day held since Nicolas Sarkozy became president and, as a tough-on-crime rightist, refused to to...

EU Supports French Socialist to Head IMF

Choice of former finance minister a victory for Sarkozy

(Newser) - A former French finance minister has the inside track to become the next chief of the IMF. EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels today settled on Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a Socialist who served in the cabinet of Francois Mitterrand. The choice was another coup for Nicolas Sarkozy, who managed at once...

Sarkozy Dumps Bastille Day Pardons
Sarkozy Dumps Bastille Day Pardons
Jul 8, 2007 2:17 PM CDT

Sarkozy Dumps Bastille Day Pardons

Revolutionary tradition ends with new law-and-order prez

(Newser) - They won't be celebrating Bastille Day in French prisons this year: Nicolas Sarkozy, the country's new law-and-order president, has declined to grant the traditional mass pardons, as his two predecessors did every year. The pardons—3,500 last year alone—have been used as a means of easing overcrowded French...

Charges Loom for Former French PM
Charges Loom for Former French PM
Jul 6, 2007 4:29 AM CDT

Charges Loom for Former French PM

De Villepin linked to dirty campaign against rival Sarkozy

(Newser) - Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is expected to face criminal conspiracy charges following the discovery of new evidence linking him to a dirty tricks campaign against President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Times of London reports. Police yesterday searched his Paris home after investigators found computer data suggesting he directed...

Sarkozy Is Europe's New Clinton
Sarkozy Is Europe's
New Clinton
Jun 25, 2007 12:31 PM CDT

Sarkozy Is Europe's New Clinton

French PM scored with diplomatic charm offensive at EU summit

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy was the star of the EU’s constitutional summit last weekend, pulling victory from the jaws of defeat with a virtuoso diplomatic performance reminiscent of the former president. The new PM displayed what Der Spiegel called ‘Clintonesque ease’ in solving big problems, returning France to her traditional...

Sarkozy's Party Loses Ground to Socialists

Parliamentary elections show left is alive, but Sarkozy's majority still solid

(Newser) - The French left refused to roll over and play dead in parliamentary elections yesterday, giving Nicolas Sarkozy a smaller majority than expected. Sarkozy's Conservative Party won a strong enough mandate to push through its ambitious tax cuts and easing of labor restrictions, the New York Times reports, but loses some...

Sarko Looks Blotto at G8
Sarko Looks Blotto at G8
Jun 13, 2007 9:23 AM CDT

Sarko Looks Blotto at G8

After lunch with Putin, French boss sways and slurs at press conference

(Newser) - Vladimir Putin may have tested out some liquid diplomacy at the G8 summit. After a long meeting with the Russian leader, freshly elected French president Nicolas Sarkozy showed up late to a press conference and appeared inebriated, fumbling for words, giggling, and swaying at the podium.

Sarkozy Says 'Non' to Turkey's Euro Hopes

France hopes to block full membership bid

(Newser) - France is threatening to block Turkey's full membership in the European Union this month and hopes to push the nation into a "privileged partnership" short of complete participation, the Financial Times reports. It's the first time new French President Nicolas Sarkozy will flex his political muscle in an EU...

Sarkozy Preps for Landslide in Parliament

Projected majority for UMP could signal mandate for new Prez

(Newser) - More Paris news: Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party is making a beeline towards a landslide in the French parliamentary election, according to first round polls. UMP could win at least 383 of 577 seats, meaning a serious mandate for Sarko to push through rightish economic reforms. But the election is anyone's...

Sarko, S&eacute;go Shake Things Up
Sarko, Ségo Shake Things Up
May 31, 2007 12:33 PM CDT

Sarko, Ségo Shake Things Up

William Pfaff on how the French election knocked the country out of its doldrums

(Newser) - France has been gripped by a serious case of political stagnation, and the recent election between two bright young things—Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal—has smashed it out of its stupor, William Pfaff reflects in the New York Review of Books.

Sarkozy Taps Close Adviser to Be PM
Sarkozy Taps Close Adviser
to Be PM
May 17, 2007 9:56 AM CDT

Sarkozy Taps Close Adviser to Be PM

Ex-Chirac official is also president's jogging buddy

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy named chief campaign adviser Francois Fillon his prime minister today, replacing firebrand Dominique de Villepin. Fillon, a right-of-center senator who directed an overhaul of France's pension system as a Chirac administration official, will lead Sarkozy's effort to institute reforms in employment and welfare laws. Fillon, whose wife is...

Stories 421 - 440 | << Prev   Next >>