As is the trend elsewhere in Europe, the political right seems to feel emboldened and more brazenly conservative than before. The apparent failure to reverse pension reform in France only seems to have served to give the political right the impression that they've won a critical battle.
If voters will punish Nicolas Sarkozy in the next contest for his seat is far from certain. It was precisely because Sarkozy managed to successfully appeal to the right that he owes his power today. Voters who would have voted for a more distinctly right-wing candidate were comfortable moving closer to the centre for a Sarkozy presidency that promised to perfor the 'right' things. His current hardline on pension reform is the gutsy display of power that right wingers love and should serve hm well down the road. Oh, and there is the inadvertent added benefit of terrorism threats - these, the weak defenseless Roma all provide, albeit tragic, opportunity to display the tough state image that handsomely delivered hundreds and thousands of voters into the Sarkozy camp last time round. The polls are now just over a year away
Le Parisien and others had very interesting views on this:
