FRANCE: At his first public appearance of 2005 yesterday, Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, the scrappy young politician who took over President Jacques Chirac's UMP party in November, seemed to relish needling the French leader.
Hundreds of journalists turned up for Mr Sarkozy's new year's reception for the press - more than for any government minister. Twelve television cameras recorded the speech, in which he challenged Mr Chirac's position on Turkish accession to the EU, proposed a new immigration policy for France and repeatedly praised the United States.
The speaker of the French National Assembly, Mr Jean-Louis Debré, a Chirac loyalist, later said he was "worried" by Mr Sarkozy's "logic of confrontation". Mr Debré accused the UMP leader of "cultivating division" and warned that his remarks could precipitate "a crisis of regime".
Mr Chirac has been at odds with his own right-wing party over Turkish membership of the EU since last May, when 71.9 per cent of the UMP's national council voted in favour of the European constitutional treaty but against the admission of Turkey.
The French President reiterated his support for Turkey's admission in a live television speech on December 15th, warning that anything short of full membership would be seen as humiliation in Ankara. Mr Chirac and Prime Minister Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin hoped to bury the Turkish issue so that it would not "pollute" their campaign for a Yes vote in the referendum on the constitutional treaty, to be held this spring.
Though he has "no hesitation, not the slightest reservation" about the treaty, Mr Sarkozy says there must be no taboo subjects in French politics. By raising the Turkish issue, which he will put to another vote of the UMP council on March 6th, he apparently hopes to isolate Mr Chirac further. The party leader hopes to replace Mr Chirac as president in 2007. Mr Sarkozy said that Turkish membership was not a question of religion, Islam or fear. "For me, the question is less about Turkey than about our idea of the future of Europe. Does it have borders?" he asked. If enlargement continued, he noted, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia would want to join next.
"I am fighting for a Europe that is politically powerful because it is integrated," Mr Sarkozy said. "The more solidarity and integration there is in Europe, the stronger she will be . . . Can you propose at the same time further integration and further enlargement? I don't think so."
Mr Sarkozy has a habit of proposing daring ideas which he has no power to implement - yet. In 2004, he jolted French ideals of republican equality by advocating a US-style system of affirmative action to integrate forcibly France's marginalised north African Arab community. Yesterday, he again compared France unfavourably with the US, always a dangerous undertaking here. "How is it that in certain countries, immigration is a factor of dynamism, whereas in our own, it inspires the strongest fears?" he asked.
Immigration to France was "uncontrollable" because France did not dare to define what kind of immigration it wanted, Mr Sarkozy said. University students would be more beneficial than illegal aliens. Three government ministries were in charge of immigration. Policy should be handled by one ministry only, and France should establish quotas by profession and nationality.
Asked whether he espoused Mr Chirac's ideal of a multi-polar system in which Europe would rival the US, Mr Sarkozy said: "The vocation of Europe is to be a zone of stability that talks to everybody. The US is a great country and a friend . . . The values of American society are closer to those of Europe than many other countries.' I'm aware that in saying this I take great risks, and yet I feel I'm saying something banal."
Mr Sarkozy made his first trip abroad as UMP leader to Israel in December. He has met conservative politicians in Germany since, and plans to visit the Israeli-Occupied Territories next month. Foreign policy is supposed to be the preserve of the French President, but Mr Sarkozy said the constitution defines that preserve only as negotiating and signing treaties.