Testimony: France, Europe, and the World in the Twenty-First Century

By Nicolas Sarkozy

Book Overview

In this important book from the newly elected president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy sets forth his personal vision of France's role in world affairs and his plans for modernizing the country and equipping it for the twenty-first century. With unusual candor, President Sarkozy describes the difficulties France has faced in recent years--high unemployment, social tensions, inadequate education, a government that has not been responsive or responsible when confronting economic and social problems. In international relations, he calls for a new approach to the way France positions itself in the world. He is a great admirer of the United States, an unorthodox position for a French leader, and his vision for Europe is ambitious and far-reaching. His iconoclastic views on Israel and the Arab world, Africa, globalization, immigration, and the environment promise a sharp break with the past. The ideas of France's new president are probably more daring, coherent, and compelling than those of any French leader in decades. Furthermore, he remains optimistic about France, insisting that the country is eager to embrace profound change. Bold, pragmatic, a risk-taker, President Sarkozy sets forth an exciting new direction for France as it enters the world of the twenty-first century.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061498246
• ISBN13: 9780061498244
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

The France everyone should know about!

A middle-class friend of mine, making 45K a year was talking seriously about moving to France. After I got her to read this book she quickly changed her mind. For the American reader, who typically knows very little about France beyond wine and museums, this book gets into the nitty-gritty of what it's really like to live in France. Even if you're not political, this book is excellent for simply understanding the French mind. Understanding the political and culture struggles going on in France makes the French people real, not just this one-dimensional stereotype that so many have. Imagine if more Europeans understood the American cultural divide, instead of just lumping us all in the same WWII Cowboy stereotype! You'll learn about their tax problems, their employment problems, and the way conservatives like Sarkozy view the socialist left. He talks candidly about every controversy that has surrounding him, including the "scum" incident during the Paris riots. If you're moving there, visiting there, or are just interested in the French mind, this is the book for you!!!

A brief glimpse into a President's mind

The first thing to remember whilst reading this book is that it is a translation from the French `Temoignage' which was written for a French audience and not a book specifically written for English speaking foreigners. This means that there are many references to people and situations which require knowledge of France and French politics. However, bearing this in mind and with access to Google nearby, one can get over this minor inconvenience. `Testimony' is an extremely rich insight into M Sarkozy's mind and he shows a devotion to, and tenacity for, change that France desperately needs. I was in France at the time of his election to President and collected a copy of his manifesto - it is essentially a précis of the book. If he can enact even a small percentage of what he hopes to do, France will become a major player again on the world scene. He rightly trashes the Socialist Party's nitwit ideas on the 35 hour week, sky-high minimum wages and the like - those that made the rest of the world laugh but at the same time he advocates an inclusive society where all members of parliament, whatever their political colour, are brought into the decision making process. Almost everything in the world of politics is discussed in his book together with his ideas on their reform - internal affairs, foreign affairs, social security, pensions, tax, state employees, justice - the list is exhaustive. He touches on his private life, his religious views, immigration (he's the son of a Hungarian immigrant) and emigration of the young to the UK. London, he informs us, is the seventh biggest French city. It is difficult for a Frenchman to argue for his language. He has a go, but not very conclusively. But he does have the good grace to admit that English has become the de facto world language and that rather than taking umbrage at this, one might as well accept it and get on with life. All this sounds like a man with a great future. It is difficult to read this exciting book and not end up agreeing with everything he says. If he does what he says he wants to do in the book, the future looks bleak for the French Socialist Party and even more so for the Trotsky and other irrelevancies of the left.

An extraordinary guidebook

Newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy has written an extraordinary guidebook that applies just as well to America's challenges as those of France. Every presidential candidate in both parties should read it. Sarkozy's opponent, Segolene Royale, should have won the French Presidential election and become the first woman President of France. After all, the center-right had held the French Presidency for 12 years. The incumbent President was tired and unpopular. In a normal year the outcome would have been obvious. The opposition left should have won. Two things stopped the left: an idea and a man. The man: Nicolas Sarkozy. The idea: France needed profound fundamental change and the left was the party of reactionary defense of a failing old order. The scale of the French challenge is stated bluntly by the then candidate and now President of France: "I am convinced that the French now want their leaders quickly to undertake reforms that will make it possible to encourage work, improve education, make government more effective, better integrate minorities and restore France's full global role." Using a web-based campaign to avoid the filter of the French media, Sarkozy hammered away for three years on the need for change. He distinguished himself from President Chirac and in the end it was Sarkozy who stood for a new future while the socialist Royale was defending the reactionary past. Ironically, Sarkozy has more faith in American reform and renewal than do American politicians and commentators. He asserts: "Beyond all these characteristics of American society, what I admire most is its capacity to recognize its own weakness and to start correcting them right away. America's strength is that it was able, in each case, to identify its own weaknesses, and decide together as a society to remedy them, and then to take action without useless nostalgia about the past." Every Presidential candidate should read Testimony to have a better understanding of the scale of leadership that is possible. And every American citizen should read Testimony to have an understanding of what they should demand from the candidates in 2008 and expect from them in 2009.

Light, But Insightful

With the rise of Nicolas Sarkozy to the French Presidency, this book is a window into his agenda, background, and style. It allows readers to judge the man as he covers much of his public career and many of the events that have been obstacles to his rise. Of particular note are the discussions about his relationship with former President Jacque Chirac and his response in October-November 2005 to the riots in Paris. All that being said, the book was written as a campaign tract, so it is somewhat light on specifics. A reccommended read for any foreign policy wonk.

A pro-American French President?! A fascinating read

I was fortunate to come across this book just before Nicolas Sarkozy was to be elected the next French president. Both Intrade and NewsFutures (prediction markets) were assigning a probability over 80% that Sarkozy would win. When both these different prediction markets agree on such a high probability; you can truly deem it a sure thing. Nicolas Sarkozy is a unique French politician as he is the first pro-American one ever. Also, he is most critical of France on most counts. And, he views himself as a positive agent of change that will change France's course. This renders this book unique in the history of French politics. Such an unabashed pro-American tack has never been undertaken by any other French politician. In foreign policy, he observes that France main identity is one of anti-Americanism at every turn to present a counter force to American hegemony. He does not see this position as serving France's own interest over the long term. This antagonism for one thing has rendered the UN Security Council completely dysfunctional. It has also impaired many other supranational institutions such as NATO. Thus, his book is part of his political effort to reduce the political distance between the two countries. If the future French President can be pro-American at a time when our current administration is most unpopular both domestically and overseas since Nixon's, it bodes extremely well for the prospect of Franco-American relations. Culturally, he feels France has been too obsessed about protecting its own language. Instead, he feels it is critical for the French to all become more fluent in English so as to more readily adopt technologies associated with this language. He recognizes that English (and not French) has become the de facto Esperanto of commerce, technology, and science. And, he feels French citizen should take this opportunity to participate in all the mentioned domains more actively by accepting this fact instead of becoming more isolated from the rest of the World. Sarkozy considers France to be in a fiscal mess. France flavor of socialism (very high tax rates, even higher social entitlements and government expenditures resulting in large chronic deficits) is not sustainable. Mixed with a rapidly aging society, France has a fiscal social entitlement problem that makes the U.S. counterparts (Social Security, Medicare) look like a fiscal walk on the beach. Indeed, social entitlements grab a significantly larger portion of tax revenues and GDP in France than they do in the U.S. As a result, Sarkozy feels that France economic climate has really hurt business, and more specifically job creation. He has a point. Job creation has been very weak for decades. Similarly, the unemployment rate has remained stuck between 8.5% and 12% for decades. In France, you have more economic incentives (overly generous unemployment compensation) to remain unemployed vs working. Businesses have very strong incentives n