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

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.

Nicolas Sarkozy was born in 1955 in Paris. Trained as a lawyer, he has served as president of France's governing political party, the right-of-center Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP, Union for a Popular Movement), mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, and, in earlier national governments, as minister of the budget; minister of communications; minister of the economy, finance, and industry; and as minister of the interior. He was elected president of France in May 2007.