Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and ...

Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III
One hundred and fifty years later, Sarkozy followed the same path and deployed considerable
efforts toward the preservation of national champions from the troubles of globalization. As
assessed by the Director of the Centre for European Reform, he “promised to prevent foreign
takeovers of French firms, and to foster the creation of French and European champions”
(Grant, 2007). Such a policy was not a novelty brought by his election to the presidential seat,
but rather a long-term process started while he was Minister of Finance in 2004. As stated by
The Economist, “not content with the state's existing stakes in many big French firms, Mr
Sarkozy has set up a new fund, the Fonds Stratégique d'Investissement (FSI), to make further
investments: half owned by the Caisse des Dépôts, a public financial institution, and half directly
by the government, the FSI aims to invest €2 billion a year in French companies” (2010). As
detailed by this publication’s article - Dirigisme de rigueur- several examples are significant at
this regard. Accordingly, Sarkozy encouraged the FSI’s investment in Valeo threatened of being
bought back by the American investment fund Pardus Capital. The same applies to Areva, for
whom the FSI lobbied toward its acquisition by the two national firms (Alstom and Schneider
Electric), to prevent it from being taken over by the Japanese Toshiba Inc. Finally, “the FSI
invested €7.5m in DailyMotion, a successful video-sharing website which competes with
YouTube outside America, and took a seat on its board, since "It's the only decently successful
French start-up in the internet industry" explains an adviser to Mr Sarkozy” (2010). Such
examples are not again proper to the Sarkozy presidency: in 2004, he saved Alstom from
bankruptcy and transformed it into a national (and even European) champion. In an era where
patriotic protectionism is outdated not to say at the limits of legality regarding all of the
European Union and Word Trade Organization’s provisions, such a behavior raises eyebrows
A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/
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