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Sarkozy and Royal - the TV debate
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| HardTranceProd |
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne...icle1739382.ece
Nicolas Sarkozy, the favourite for the French presidency, was thrown on the defensive last night when Ségolène Royal, his Socialist challenger subjected him to a fierce assault over his past record and his supposed political “immorality”.
Mr Sarkozy, 53, who enjoys a four or five point lead in opinion polls ahead of Sunday’s run-off vote, struggled at moments to keep his balance as Ms Royal attacked his ideas and record in a long television debate watched by up to half of all French households.
“I regard what you are saying as the height of political immorality,” Ms Royal, 53, snapped at Mr Sarkozy in an argument over spending on the handicapped in schools.
Mr Sarkozy, a radical conservative, kept up the courteous tone that he had adopted towards the first woman contender for the Elysée Palace as Ms Royal sought to catch him out on detail and blamed him for the record of the outgoing administration of President Chirac.
It was clear that her strategy for the evening was all-out attack against the candidate who she and the left have vilified as an advocate of brutal policies and a danger to the peace of France. However, it was not clear that she would benefit from her long-winded and often emotional argument.
“What a pity you didn’t do that during your five years in government”, Ms Royal said repeatedly, as Mr Sarkozy parried her interruptions in the two and a half-hour debate.
“Why do you treat anyone who is not of your opinion with irony, even with contempt?” an exasperated Mr Sarkozy responded.
Ms Royal’s aim throughout the tense debate, the first between presidential candidates since 1995, was to shake Mr Sarkozy’s claim to superior experience and statesmanship. Dressed in a strict black suit that contrasted with her usual pale colours, she even suggested that Mr Sarkozy “do his homework” when the pair clashed over nuclear reactors.
Ms Royal and Mr Sarkozy sought to prove that each had the formula for pulling France out of its relative economic stagnation and sense of moral crisis, but the Socialist dwelt on her empathy for the people while Mr Sarkozy talked figures and policies.
“I want to be the president who creates a France where aggression and violence is receding, a France that will win the battle against unemployment and an expensive life, and that will make inequalities decrease,” said the Socialist. “You are in part responsible for the situation in which France finds itself,” she told Mr Sarkozy.
She accused Mr Sarkozy’s government, in which he served as Interior and Finance Minister, of failing to tackle unemployment and street crime. “Madame, do you want me to complete a sentence?” Mr Sarkozy asked at one moment, tripping over his words.
Ms Royal attacked him over his plans for heavy cuts in the civil service and cited the case of a policewoman who was last month raped as she returned from work at night. “Under my presidency every woman police officer will be accompanied to her home after work,” said Ms Royal. This drew mockery from Mr Sarkozy, who wondered whether she planned to create a new civil service to guard the police.
Ms Royal scored points when Mr Sarkozy denounced the 35-hour maximum working week, introduced in 1999 by the last Socialist government .
“The 35-hour week was a complete catastrophe, it has to be said, for the French economy,” said Mr Sarkozy. Ms Royal shot back: “Then why did you not scrap the law if it was such a disaster?”
Mr Sarkozy sought to depict Ms Royal as an old-school tax-and-spend Socialist. “At root, she is stuck in a Socialist logic of sharing work,” he said.
Mr Sarkozy gained the upper hand when he pressed Ms Royal on her plans for raising the incomes of the poor and pensioners with new taxes on business. “Give me figures,” said Mr Sarkozy.
She replied: “My tax will be at the level necessary for social justice.” He came back: “That’s a stunning piece of detail. Can’t you give us a figure?” To which Ms Royal replied: “No I can’t.”
“I see,” said Mr Sarkozy, who began his career as a trial lawyer.
No winner or loser emerged at the end of nearly two hours, but the consensus was that she had performed better than expected against an opponent with superior debating skills.
“Ségolène Royal, pulled it off well,” said Stephane Foukes, a director of the Euro RSCG agency. “Sarkozy was no doubt guided by the fear of getting carried away.
But commentators agreed that there was no knock-out punch on either side.
Latest poll
53.5% Royal
46.5% Sarkozy |
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| Sunsnail |
| Being half french, this interested me. My mother is for royal, but I kinda prefer sarkozy. :p |
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| Clovis |
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| d-miurge |
| quote: | Originally posted by malek
allez Sarko!!!1 |
on s'en balec de l'avis de malek! :D |
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