Sarkozy backs off push for reforms

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By Andrew Borowiec and Anne-Laure Buffard

PARIS

As he prepares to entertain President Obama at a NATO summit later this week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy - sometimes likened to a racehorse that has to be reined in - is slowing down his quest for dramatic reforms in a nation increasingly doubtful of their success.

He is stymied by the world economic crisis, a rift within his governing Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and a barrage of labor union demands that, he says, France cannot afford.

Two major strikes and the threat of more industrial action were merely warning signals, his critics say. Opinion polls show a steady loss of the president's popularity, with close to 70 percent of those who voted him into power now saying they would not do it again.

“We have a president who aggravates the crisis by making the wrong economic and social choices,” said Benoit Hamon, a spokesman for the opposition Socialist Party. He accused the president of “deafness to the general dissatisfaction” and a refusal to answer questions on key economic subjects.

Mr. Sarkozy responded to his critics, saying, “I have the duty to listen to those who protest. But I am also accountable for the ones who are not marching in the streets.”

“Those who suffer the most are not the ones who protest the most,” he said in an hourlong speech last week in the northern town of St. Quentin. He was referring to a nationwide strike that disrupted French air and rail transport on March 19.

The unions say about 3 million people took part in marches accompanying the strike. The authorities estimated the number at 1.5 million.

“This is not just a day of protest,” said Francois Chereque of the powerful CFDT union. “We have made hard proposals, and the government has to give us some serious answers.”

France is accustomed to union-organized strikes, but the social movement that took place two weeks ago also drew oil, banking, pharmaceutical and retail workers as well as people from the auto industry. They marched alongside the public-sector employees who usually form the bulk of French street protesters.