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Germany Greets Sarkozy Victory: A Beacon of Hope for Europe? - Carsten Volkery
Although Nicolas Sarkozy played the nationalist card during the election campaign, the future French president is still regarded as a beacon of hope for the EU -- particularly by the German government. Nevertheless, there are likely to be conflicts ahead on a number of issues, including talks on Turkish membership.
As economics minister, Sarkozy was a tough protectionist, who wanted to protect France's "national champions" from too much disagreeable competition from other European Union countries. Among other things, he fought to stop the planned acquisition of Alstom by Germany's Siemens. And it was he who in May 2004 initiated his party's decision to hold a referendum on the EU treaty. The French "non" led to the current EU crisis.
