Sarko heading for Ségo showdown

Nicolas Sarkozy has been chosen as the centre-right candidate for this year’s French presidential elections following a vote on Sunday.

The current interior minister, Sarkozy was the sole candidate in the election, dispelling fears that a rival bid could split the ruling UMP party.

Potential rival Michèle Alliot-Marie waited until last week to decide not to stand, and current president Jacques Chirac is yet to decide whether to try for an historic third term.

Chirac did not attend the meeting at which Sarkozy’s candidacy was endorsed, and several of his supporters – notably prime minister Dominique de Villepin – also declined to take part in the vote.

Sarkozy’s increasingly controversial stance – he recently criticised Chirac for not backing the war in Iraq – has led to a souring of the once-close relationship between the president and contender.

The presidential race between Sarkozy and centre-left candidate Ségolène Royal is expected to be close, with both politicians currently running neck-and-neck in the polls.

Both sides are keen to avoid a recurrence of the 2002 vote, when centre-left candidate Lionel Jospin was beaten by far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen in the first round, leading to a landslide victory for Chirac in the second.

Whoever wins, the rest of Europe will hope that the new French president gets quickly up to speed, with many key EU dossiers seen as being on hold until after the elections.

Germany in particular will be hoping for a new political elite in France as it seeks to resurrect the EU constitution – famously rejected by disillusioned French voters in 2005.

Sarkozy has made his views on Europe widely known – he is favour of cherry-picking the best bits of the constitution, such as creating a permanent president, and of rejecting Turkey’s bid for EU entry, for example.

Royal has been considerably vaguer on her vision for Europe, but would be likely to follow the traditional Socialist line of greater social protection and less liberalisation.

Sarkozy has not been afraid to criticise other EU members in the past, in particular for their approach to immigration.

Spain, Italy and Germany have all come under fire for ‘regularising’ illegal immigrants – a move that Sarkozy considers sends the wrong message about European immigration policy.

But with fewer than 100 days before the first round of voting, Sarkozy appears to have understood the need to tone down his sometimes controversial style.

“I’ve changed,” he told his supporters. “I want to appeal to all French people, without exception.”

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