French Security and Defence Policy under Sarkozy: Gazing into the Crystal Ball
By Dr Robert Grant
6 Jul 2007
Nicolas Sarkozy won election to the Presidency of the French Republic based on his promised ability to pull France out of its economic and social doldrums. Whilst the dust has barely settled from Presidential and Parliamentary elections in which security and defence issues were very largely absent from the debate, interested parties both within and outside France are already trying to discern the directions in which the new President and his senior team will steer France on these issues.
The focus will be on issues such as the creation of a National Security Council and the priority of African development, the centrality of the EU to French national security policy and the NATO-EU relationship. While Sarkozy’s election coupled with the eventual departure of the Bush administration in 2009 will provide a more positive framework for US-French relations, there remains many reasons not to expect uninterrupted smooth sailing ahead. There are vital areas where US and French strategic preoccupations overlap, but there are also critical ones where they do not.
6 Jul 2007
Nicolas Sarkozy won election to the Presidency of the French Republic based on his promised ability to pull France out of its economic and social doldrums. Whilst the dust has barely settled from Presidential and Parliamentary elections in which security and defence issues were very largely absent from the debate, interested parties both within and outside France are already trying to discern the directions in which the new President and his senior team will steer France on these issues.
The focus will be on issues such as the creation of a National Security Council and the priority of African development, the centrality of the EU to French national security policy and the NATO-EU relationship. While Sarkozy’s election coupled with the eventual departure of the Bush administration in 2009 will provide a more positive framework for US-French relations, there remains many reasons not to expect uninterrupted smooth sailing ahead. There are vital areas where US and French strategic preoccupations overlap, but there are also critical ones where they do not.
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