Egocracy

A description of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s style of governing.

“Two years into Mr Sarkozy’s term in office, intense and obsessive dislike of the president – anti-sarkozysme – is fast becoming the defining feature of French opposition politics,” The Economist declared:

The Socialist Party, for instance, is campaigning on an anti-Sarkozy platform. One of its slogans is “Stop Barroso, stop Sarkozy!,” a dig at both the presidents of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso (considered too liberal in economic policy) and of France. On the far left, the New Anti-Capitalist Party is calling for a “vote against Sarkozy and the Europe of capitalists.”

Or take François Bayrou, a centrist leader, who kicked off his campaign by publishing a vitriolic book entitled “Abuse of Power.” Describing France under Mr Sarkozy as an “egocracy,” he refers to the president variously as “a blind monarch” and “a barbaric child,” who “believes himself all-powerful and imagines that the world starts with him and is in his hand.”

Nicolas Sarkozy has earned a number of despotic nicknames during his Presidency, including: Tsarkozy, Le Roi Sarko I, L’Omniprésident andEmperor Sarko I. See also: Sarkule.