Nicolas Sarkozy, born Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa on January 28, 1955 in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, is the current President of France and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, elected on 6 May 2007 after defeating Socialist Party contender Ségolène Royal during the second round of the 2007 election. Before his presidency, he was leader of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) right wing party. Under Jacques Chirac's presidency, he served as the Minister of the Interior in Jean-Pierre Raffarin (UMP)'s first two governments (from May 2002 to March 2004), then was appointed Minister of Finances in Raffarin's last government (March 2004 May 2005), and again Minister of the Interior in Dominique de Villepin's government (2005-2007). Sarkozy was also president of the General council of the Hauts-de-Seine department from 2004 to 2007 and mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, one of the wealthiest communes of France from 1983 to 2002. Furthermore, he was also Minister of the Budget in Édouard Balladur (RPR, predecessor of the UMP)'s government during François Mitterrand's last term.
Sarkozy is known for his strong stance on law and order issues and his desire to revitalise the French economy. In foreign affairs, he has promised closer cooperation with the United States.[3] His nickname "Sarko" is used by both supporters and opponents.
"Get lost" -Becomes a Sarkozy popular video in internet
Sarkozy was filmed by a journalist from the daily Le Parisien on a walkabout at the annual farm fair in Paris on Saturday.
Sarkozy offered his hand to a man who said: "Don't touch me, you are soiling me." In reply, Sarkozy said, without dropping his smile: "Get lost, dumb ass."
The video was posted on Le Parisien's website www.leparisien.fr.on and by midday on Sunday it had been seen by more than 350,000 people, a spokeswoman for the newspaper said.
"It has created quite a controversy," she said. The video is the first to come up when searching for Sarkozy on Dailymotion and YouTube.
Sarkozy's popularity ratings are in freefall and his hands-on style of government is attracting growing criticism.
In November, Sarkozy had a heated exchange with fishermen during protests against rising fuel costs. The president challenged a fisherman who had insulted him.
"Come down and say that," Sarkozy, elected in May, was quoted as saying. "Don't think that by insulting me you will solve fishermen's problems."
After the incident, Sarkozy said he refused to have insults hurled at him and would only accept a dialogue between "civilised people."
Francois Hollande, head of the Socialist party, said Sarkozy was not behaving like a head of state and called on him to improve his behaviour.
"One should not get into a brawl...One does not call down a fisherman or a worker to explain what he said, one does not get into a fight with someone who does not want to shake your hand," Hollande said on pay-TV channel Canal plus.
Sarkozy's spokesman, David Martinon, declined to comment on the fair incident.
The number of people satisfied with the president fell 9 percentage points in a month to 38 percent, according to an Ifop poll in the Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche.
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