PROFILE:Nicolas Sarkozy is a controversial, outspoken leader but what are his most notable characteristics? Lara Marlowereports
THE GAFFE
Unlike most of his compatriots, he finds it difficult to refrain from saying what he thinks. In 2005, he promised to wash down the immigrant suburbs with a power hose and labelled the unruly youths who lived there racaille (scum).
These remarks, combined with the accidental deaths of two boys, led to three weeks of rioting that cost an estimated €200 million.
Last week's gaffe, in which the French president said Ireland would have to vote again on the Lisbon Treaty, poisoned the ambiance before his visit.
French officials still don't understand what the fuss was about; after all, they argue, the president only said what everyone thinks.
SPEED
is characteristic of all presidential activities. A man in a hurry is one who divorces on October 18th, 2007, and remarries on February 2nd, 2008.
You might think the President of the European Council would set aside more than an afternoon for the EU's most pressing crisis.
If Dublin were in the market for French warplanes or nuclear reactors, be sure he would stay longer.
But Speedy Sarko must be back in France in time to be helicoptered down to Saint Étienne de Tinée to watch the Tour de France tomorrow.
Irish politicians shouldn't take the offer of three to four minutes each with the president personally; last September, Mr Sarkozy upset Hungarians by spending only a few hours in the country of his father's birth.
Nor should they be offended if he plays with his mobile phone during talks, as he did last year in Pope Benedict's presence.
ENGUEULADE (OUTBURST)
is another Sarkozy forte. He's expected to be polite today, but should he lose his temper, remember he called his former spokesman an "imbécile!" in front of a US television crew, and drove Gen Bernard Cuche, the chief of staff of Europe's largest army, to resignation by yelling, "You're all amateurs!" at senior officers.
FLIP-FLOP
Mr Sarkozy is past master of the political U-turn. During his campaign he promised to be "on the side of the oppressed of the world".
Libya and China are the most flagrant examples of his sacrificing human rights to commerce. On the domestic front, the French leader has failed to deliver on his promise to be "the president of purchasing power".
After granting €15 billion in tax cuts to the rich, he told the French "the till is empty".
INCONSISTENCY
The most glaring example in the Lisbon saga is the way Mr Sarkozy keeps promising that unanimity will be respected in defence and fiscal matters, while at the same time arguing that it would be unfair to allow little Ireland, which represents only 1 per cent of the population of the Union, to hold up 26 other EU members.
For all his bombast and bluster, the French president is prone to caving in when confronted with vocal opposition. Last winter he decreed that every French school child should learn the identity of a child killed in the Holocaust. The measure was quietly dropped.
The Attali report noted the urgent need for 10,000 more taxis in Paris. Mr Sarkozy caved in to protests by drivers, and cabs are still scarcer than hen's teeth in the French capital.
COMPROMISE
Another Sarkozy speciality. In the case of the Lisbon Treaty, the president now argues that Ireland will lose its commissioner next year if we remain under Nice, but if Ireland votes Yes to Lisbon, there's a chance of fudging it when a decision has to be taken in 2014.
If Irish leaders go down this road, they should hold out for a firm commitment from the other 26 to maintain one commissioner per country - not a vague postponement.
DEALMAKER
Mr Sarkozy wants to be the man who saves Lisbon, and he's capable of devising compromises we haven't dreamed of. He's in the habit of sacrificing a great deal as long as he can call it success.
Thus, he abandoned the most important part of university reform (which would have allowed universities to select their students) but obtained the right for French universities to seek independent funding.
He's proud of having reformed the régimes spéciaux under which public transport workers retired before everyone else. But he gave the workers a sweetheart deal, the cost of which has been kept secret.
In foreign policy, he presents the election of a Lebanese president as a victory for democracy and French diplomacy, when Hizbullah achieved its goal of attaining a blocking minority.
Irish leaders have more in common with Sarkozy than you might think. Ireland's political establishment lost the people in the Lisbon debacle.
Mr Sarkozy comes 35th out of 35 politicians in Paris Matchmagazine's July popularity sweepstakes.
But Irish leaders would be ill-advised to invite him to commiserate over a pint. Mr Sarkozy detests alcohol.
When he goes out, it's to Fouquet's or Paris's Hotel Bristol. Chances are, he wouldn't be caught dead in an Irish pub.