By Crispian Balmer
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has gone from hero to villain in the European Union within just six weeks, the plaudits for his deft leadership of the 27-nation bloc giving way to vilification over his protectionist urges.
The row over French efforts to ringfence its car industry at the expense of its eastern allies has eroded Sarkozy's international standing and revived accusations that Paris is wedded to state interventionism.
"Sarkozy had emerged as the pre-eminent European leader, head and shoulders above other contenders, but now I think he has largely blown it," said Charles Grant, director for the Centre for European Reform in London.
France appeared to be the most dynamic force in Europe at the end of last year, following its successful handling of the EU presidency, during which time Sarkozy led from the front to secure a united response to the financial crisis.
But any idea of unity was thrown out the window last week when he said it was unjustified for French car firms to set up plants in places like the Czech Republic.
Putting actions to words, Sarkozy later handed local car producers PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault cheap loans in return for promising not to close their French factories.
"As someone who has followed the European Union for 20 years, I cannot think of any single more damaging comment than what Sarkozy said in that television interview," said Grant.
However, to anyone who has followed Sarkozy's political career, such opinions would not have come as a surprise, especially in the current context of economic downturn, gathering social unrest and plunging opinion polls.
COLBERT REVISITED
Since the start of the economic crisis, Sarkozy has denounced the "dictatorship of the market", vowed to end "laissez-faire capitalism" and created a fund to protect French business from falling into the hands of foreign predators.
Going further back in time, when he was finance minister in 2004, Sarkozy prevented local engineering group Alstom from going bankrupt by pumping in state cash, defying the perceived wisdom that the market should have decided its fate.
To go from believing in an activist state to promoting protectionist policies is a short step in the country which gave the world Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's finance minister who pioneered state control of the economy.
But when it comes to defending car factories, Sarkozy is being driven more by pragmatism than ideology.
Up to 2.5 million people took to the streets of France last month to protest against Sarkozy's economic policies and unions have called a new day of action for March unless he bows to their demands for concerted action to help consumer spending.
Such protest movements have a habit of spiralling out of control here, and when Sarkozy went on television last week he was speaking exclusively to a domestic audience trying to convince them he could stem the recent flood of job losses.
His message did not get through and his popularity rating subsequently plunged, hitting a record low of 36 points in one IPSOS poll, down nine points on the month.
Analysts said that if anything, Sarkozy did not strike enough of a populist tone to calm his anxious audience.
"The French almost wanted to hear a more demagogic president," said Jean-Francois Doridot, head of IPSOS.
"He cannot stay motionless. He has to be seen to act. If people think he is not doing anything, he won't stand a chance."
EVERYONE AT IT
The French centre-right government strongly denies that it is pursuing a protectionist agenda and says that in any case, other countries are reacting in exactly the same way as the bloc tumbles into recession.
Before France moved to help its auto sector, Italy had offered support to its own carmakers in return for guarantees that they keep their Italian plants running.
Numerous western governments have also told their ailing banks that they expect them to support businesses back home in return for bailout packages.
Such policies suggest that the most severe economic crisis in the history of the European Union is not just battering its open market ethos in France, but across the alliance.
"What Sarkozy said wasn't wise, but in the wider context everyone is engaged in a dismantling the European Union," said Ulrike Guerot, head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
"But if you have a frontrunner like France which is now dysfunctional, you will find many countries will hide behind it and do likewise," she added.
