what remains of Sarkozysm? Ask your questions to historian Gilles Richard

What is Sarkozysm? It is essentially a political strategy developed since the end of the 1990s, and implemented from 2002 (he became Minister of the Interior in the Raffarin government) which consists of developing – in the wake of Edouard Balladur/Alain Juppé + Charles Pasqua –, a Europeanist neoliberal policy.

This is a French state serving the market economy and large French groups as well as the continued development of the European Union towards more federalism – this is the policy that dominates the history of France since the Barre governments, if we put aside the parenthesis of the years 1981-1983 – while trying to recover the votes of the National Front (FN, which became RN in 2018) by pursuing an identity-type policy (the creation of the Ministry of Immigration and National Identity in 2007 was the official marker).

But an identity policy which is not confused with that of the FN, because on the security side (increase in the number of police officers, minimum sentences, etc. + expulsions of foreigners in an illegal situation – twice as many in 2008 as in 2001), Nicolas Sarkozy added selected immigration and the promotion of figures from “visible minorities” (Rachida Dati, Rama Yade, Fadela Amara) in government. A solution offered to the least ultra FN voters. Which worked in 2007 (JM Le Pen had a bad campaign…).

In the medium term, this policy failed (the FN resumed its rise in 2011) because ultimately, we cannot reconcile the two visions of the world which underlie the two policies described: the Treaty of Lisbon ratified in 2009 offered some the best example.