Sarkozy’s TV time faces guillotine

THE AMOUNT of time the president talks in radio and TV broadcasts should be capped, according to France’s top administrative authority, the Conseil d’Etat.

The conseil has overruled a decision by broadcasting watchdog the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel to treat the president as if the position was above party politics.

Broadcasting rules state that time given to politicians should be based on three equal parts, one for government ministers, one for opposition parties and one for majority parties – the president being the exception to the rule.

A report by the conseil says that in reality the president “is not just the referee…but a (team) captain,” adding that the president belongs to a certain political stance and “it is difficult to suggest presidential speeches are always, by their very nature, neutral.”

The conseil said the CSA had made a “legal error” in its attitude to the president – which has consisted of monitoring how much time the president spends talking on the television and radio, but doing nothing with this information.

The conseil has proposed combining the president’s time with that of the government – an idea likely to cut considerably the time President Sarkozy and Prime Minister François Fillon usually spend addressing the media.

However the conseil has suggested some genuinely non-partisan presidential speeches should be excluded – ie. addressing the European parliament, a homage to someone who has died, a speech in praise of the French Resistance etc. would be excluded from the count.

The conseil ruling came after a complaint by the Socialist Party.

Socialist leader Martine Aubry said the CSA must now “take the necessary action so that finally the comments of the president and his close advisors will be combined with the government’s time-limit.”

The CSA said it would fix new rules after the European elections in June.