Sarkozy Sees Mandate for New France

Vows to bond with U.S., break with nanny state
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted May 7, 2007 6:29 AM CDT
Sarkozy Sees Mandate for New France
Supporters of President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy gather on the Concorde square after the presidential election result in Paris, Sunday May 6, 2007. Energized French voters elected reform-minded Nicolas Sarkozy as their new president on Sunday by a comfortable winning margin. The Eiffel Tower is seen at...   (Associated Press)

Newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared an economic revolution for France and closer friendship with the United States to thousands of jubilant supporters at Paris's Place de La Concorde last night. But there were riots in Bastille and car burnings in the suburbs as disappointed Socialists reacted to the pugnacious right winger's victory.

Sarkozy is expected to shake up the French economy by loosening restrictive labor laws. "I want a France where everyone has a chance—but chance comes for those who work for it," he said in his acceptance speech. The Guardian predicts that Sarkozy will be closer to the U.S. and more pro-Israel than any previous French president. (More Nicolas Sarkozy stories.)

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