France's new president is positioning himself as a kind of replacement for Tony Blair as Washington's darling, argues Mustafa El-Feki* It took some time to grasp the significance of a Tony Blair- style leader in the Elysée. At first I imagined that Nicolas Sarkozy came to office because of his anti-immigration policies. As it turned out this was only a small detail. The new master of the Elysée is a champion of US policies. And he has a chance to push Europe closer to Washington in an unprecedented way. Interestingly enough, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been moving in that direction for a while now. Here are two major European nations, the ones that once stood firmly against the war on Iraq, revising their views. So expect a convergence in opinion on both sides of the Atlantic, and act accordingly. There are a number of points worth keeping in mind. Sarkozy is part of the French right wing. He emerged as a strong presidential contender years ago. Much work went into boosting his image on both sides of the Atlantic. I am tempted to conclude that the political and media grooming of Sarkozy was not a random act, but a careful scheme designed by several powers, not least the US and Israel. The Arabs and Muslims have contributed to the emergence of the Sarkozy phenomenon. Some Arab capitals welcomed him, launching him onto the public scene as if he were the next leader not just of France but of Europe. I recall how the imam of Al-Azhar received Sarkozy when he was interior minister and women's veils were a big issue in France. Sarkozy went back to France with a gift: an edict from Al-Azhar supporting his policies and undermining his opponents. Sarkozy used such encounters to promote his political prospects. The first thing Sarkozy did following his victory in the French presidential elections was to pledge his support to the Bush administration. Now he is set to extract France from the tradition of Gaullist independence that has long marked French foreign policy and which made Paris sympathetic to just causes around the world. You may recall that, just before the 1967 War, de Gaulle promised that France would sell no more weapons to the party that starts the war. You may also recall Chirac's position on the war on Iraq and Mitterrand's policies during the Gulf war. That was a time when France was a beacon, a country that stood apart with its even-handed position on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Sarkozy's recent statements, designed to prevent Turkey from joining the EU, betray his phobia regarding all foreigners, but particularly Muslims. Interestingly, Sarkozy is half Hungarian. French objections to Turkey joining the EU are not entirely new. Paris made it clear on more than one occasion that it was less than enthusiastic about Turkish membership. The campaign against Turkey was led at one point by former French minister Giscard d'Estaing who, as head of the committee updating the EU constitution, once said that Morocco was more worthy of EU membership than Turkey. Sarkozy has developed a habit of promoting US policy. He and his wife played a major role in resolving the problem of the Bulgarian nurses imprisoned in Libya. In doing so Sarkozy paved the way for further cooperation between Washington and Tripoli. Sarkozy, who also has Jewish ancestors, takes a hard-line position towards the Palestinian resistance. His statements accord with Israel's views of peace and security. When he is not endorsing the US position on Israel, he goes one step further, expressing latent scepticism about all Arabs and Muslims. Also, he fully subscribes to Washington's agenda on terror. Chirac's legacy is currently under attack. The fact that Chirac moved out of the Elysée into a large house in Paris that was once owned by a former Arab prime minister has not helped. As Chirac's aura fades, the relatively young Sarkozy, a rising star among a new cohort of French politicians, is becoming even more popular. Sarkozy seems to want to act as a spokesman for US foreign policy. The Americans, for their part, are thrilled to see the shift in French policies. One may recall here how former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld derided France and Germany as part of "old Europe" when they refused to endorse the war on Iraq. Sarkozy's position on the Middle East is to provide Israel with unqualified support. When Sarkozy won the election a French diplomat told me the Arabs should consider it an opportunity -- Sarkozy, he argued, had amiable ties with the US and the Arabs should persuade him to mediate a diplomatic solution. Such optimism now looks entirely misplaced. I suspect Sarkozy's popularity at home will be short-lived. For one thing, the French president doesn't seem to speak for ordinary French people. Even his call for a French neighbourliness project has not turned out as well as he had hoped. Ordinary French people know that theirs is a Mediterranean culture, one that intersects with Arab and Islamic civilisation. The French do not wish to be pawns in Washington's foreign policy. Their tradition, going back to Napoleon and de Gaulle, runs counter to any such tendency. France also has close relations with North African countries which have a bearing on French national security. Anglo-Saxon and Latin ways of thinking do not always accord. France is edging closer to the US and is perhaps about to inherit the role the UK once played. It wasn't easy to detect that transition at first, for Sarkozy seemed to be more of a domestic French phenomenon than an international one. The last bastions of European independence are clearly falling. Amid the collapse we must decide what our own position is. * The writer is chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the People's Assembly.
