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Critics of Blunt, Scattered Sarkozy Pile On

Crucial strike looms as discontent with the hyperpresident mounts

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 17, 2007 1:08 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Railing against Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reform, France is bracing for a punishing transit strike tomorrow as hordes of foreigners descend for the Rugby World Cup finals. It's only the latest setback for the new president and his broad-sweeping modernizing campaign, leading the New York Times to ask if the Sarkozy honeymoon is over.

U-turns on taxes and public sector reform and Sarkozy's penchant for publicly calling out ministers have alienated friend and foe alike. MPs and the press have begun to wonder whether any strategy unifies the scatter-shot measures that Sarkozy has proposed. Le Monde even accused Sarkozy, with no shortage of irony, of lacking "ambition."

A commuter squeezes between the closing doors of a rare departing regional train at the Saint Lazare railway station in Paris, in this March 10, 2005 file photo, as unions were calling for major transport strikes and a massive demonstration to defend the 35-hour work week and to push for...
A commuter squeezes between the closing doors of a rare departing regional train at the Saint Lazare railway station in Paris, in this March 10, 2005 file photo, as unions were calling for major transport...   (Associated Press)
French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy.   (Associated Press)
Abbesses Metro Station
Abbesses Metro Station   ((c) stevecadman)
French President Nicolas Sarkozy gestures as he delivers a speech before the French Economic and Social Council, marking World Poverty Day, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at the council's headquarters in Paris. The Economic and Social Council is a constitutional consultative assembly, which advises the government. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, pool)
French President Nicolas Sarkozy gestures as he delivers a speech before the French Economic and Social Council, marking World Poverty Day, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at the council's headquarters in Paris....   (Associated Press)
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Nicolas Sarkozy • France • transit strike • Union for a Popular Movement

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