Transatlantic Politics

According to an FT-poll , the Brits, Germans, Italians and Spaniards are even more Socialist than the French - or maybe they just wish them "well."  All of these groups support Mrs. Segolene Royal from Socialist Party over the current front-runner from the center-right, Nicolas Sarkozy:

Sixteen per cent of respondents in Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK considered that Ms Royal would be the best president for France, with 7 per cent opting for Nicolas Sarkozy, the contender from the centre-right UMP party.

Ms Royal proved most popular in Spain and Italy, which have left-wing governments. Ms Royal has made a point of courting the support of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain’s socialist prime minister, who is to attend her final campaign rally in Toulouse on Thursday. The first round of voting will be held on Sunday.

Separately, 22 per cent of French respondents in the poll considered Ms Royal to be the best president just behind Mr Sarkozy, with 23 per cent.

 Let's see where the two stand on the issues:

Segolene Royal - "We need justice and order"

• boost minimum wage to 1500 Euro a month, a 19.6% increase, but promising not to raise taxes…
• abolish the new flexible job contract for small firms
• create 500,000 subsidised jobs for young graduates
• pay the entire salary and social charges for unskilled young people to work for a year in small businesses
• big increase in spending on universities, research and innovation
• the construction of 120,000 social housing units a year

 Nicolas Sarkozy - "Get France back to work" (not a bad idea at all)

• exempt time worked over 35 hours a week from social charges and income tax
• give universities more autonomy, letting them compete to recruit staff and students
• break the big five unions' statutory stranglehold on representation in companies
• introduce a law that will guarantee “minimum service” on public transport during strikes
• reform the special pension regimes for railway drivers and other state employees that enable them to retire early on full pension.

According to The Economist, Sarkozy seems to be the only chance of reform France has left:

Mr Sarkozy is the only candidate who seems both to have understood the urgency of reform and to have the abrasiveness to stand a chance of carrying it out. A political outsider, who fought his way to the top of the Gaullist party through hard work and cunning, he remains fearless in the face of opposition. Anticipating resistance, his advisers are already working on a draft of the law on minimum service, so as to curb the effectiveness of strikes.

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