The Economist backs Sarkozy

Maybe it is not a total surprise; the British journal The Economist supported George W. Bush over Al Gore in 2000 (but never Silvio Berlusconi). Now they endorse another man of the right; UMP candidate Nicolas Sarkozy.

To their credit, The Economist has two basic doubts:

As he showed in his brief stint as finance minister, he has most of the traditional French politician's meddlesome economic instincts, favouring a strong industrial policy, protected national champions and even interfering in supermarket prices. Recently he has taken to heaping blame on the European Central Bank for France's self-inflicted failings.

AND:

The biggest defect in Mr Sarkozy's foreign policy: his fierce hostility to letting Turkey join the EU.

But after all, according to The Economist:

On the evidence of his career and his campaign, Mr Sarkozy is less a principled liberal than a brutal pragmatist. Yet he is the only candidate brave enough to advocate the “rupture” with its past that France needs after so many gloomy years. It has been said that France advances by revolution from time to time but seldom, if ever, manages to reform. Mr Sarkozy offers at least a chance of proving this aphorism wrong.

Needless to say, I support Ségolène Royal, and the question is whether this endorsement is even positive in the eyes of a French voter. Moreover, Sarkozy now says he wants to cure France with methods from England, and I doubt if that is a vote vinner.

Anyway, it is somewhat sad when the biggest hope for Royal seems to be Chirac’s legacy and Sarkozy’s talk of reform.