President to make New Year speech
Following tradition, Sarkozy will give a speech tonight about the past year and challenges ahead.
In his traditional president’s New Year speech tonight, President Sarkozy is expected to state that “a new world” can emerge from the current economic crisis.
The speech, at 20.00 on TF1, is not expected to last more than the usual 10 minutes. In this short format, the president will recap 2008 and explain some of his main plans for the year ahead.
He is expected to refer to France’s six months at the EU presidency, the financial crisis and to foreign affairs matters such as the Israelite attacks in Gaza (he is scheduled to meet with the Israeli foreign minister on Thursday in Paris, amid international pressure for the attacks to stop).
‘A source close to the president’ was quoted by the newspaper Le Figaro saying: “The head of state is convinced a new world will come out of the crises we have experienced and will say so again. He wants people to know he is getting ready for it and that he will be careful to respect the need for solidarity with the poorest members of society.”
Sarkozy is also expected to reaffirm his belief in the need for reform in France, to make the country more competitive, following suggestions he is backtracking after putting off planned changes to the lycée.
Unlike last year, when the president broke with convention by speaking live, tonight’s speech will be recorded an hour before broadcast.
Photo: Medef
