VILLEPINTE, France–French President Nicolas Sarkozy delivered a stern ultimatum to the European Union at an election rally Sunday, saying France will withdraw from the Schengen accords, which allow free circulation within most of the bloc’s borders, unless the E.U. hardens its immigration policy.
The incumbent president, who is trailing Socialist rival Francois Hollande in polls, also said that–if re-elected–he will demand its EU partners pass a “Buy European Act” similar to the “Buy American Act” adopted by the U.S., which required the government to prefer U.S.-made products in its purchases. Failing significant progress within the year, France will apply the rule unilaterally, he said.
“I want a political Europe that protects its citizens,” Sarkozy said in the largest rally to date of his campaign, with an estimated 50,000 gathered in a hangar at the Paris fair, close to the city’s airport.
The French President, who is hoping to kickstart his flagging re-election campaign, said that unless significant progress is made within twelve months to cut the number of foreigners allowed to enter EU borders, France will leave the Schengen space, a move that would deal a blow to the free circulation of people within the union.
“At a time of economic crisis, if Europe doesn’t pick those who can enter its borders, it won’t be able to finance its welfare state any longer,” he told the rally. “We need a common discipline in border controls. […] We can’t leave the management of migration flows to technocrats and tribunals.”
As he shifted the domestic political debate onto the European level, Sarkozy kept up the marked rightward bend his campaign has taken since the start of the month, when he pledged to cut the number of immigrants allowed in France every year to entice voters away from the right wing National Front.
“Since the beginning, his strategy consists of showing he’s a statesman who can change things in Europe, who has a stature his rivals lack,” said Bruno Cautres, a professor at Sciences Po in Paris.
The Schengen agreement abolished internal border controls within the EU and some non-EU countries, including Switzerland and Iceland, with two EU member states–Ireland and the U.K.–opting out. For international travel, the E.U. works like a single country with external border controls only for travellers going in and out of the area.
Sarkozy had already called for changes in the Schengen treaty last year when the flow of immigrants from northern Africa had peaked due to political unrest in the region. At the time, Sarkozy and then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had asked the EU to allow for changes in the free circulation of people within the EU borders following exceptional circumstances, and French police had started checks on train from Italy in search for Tunisian immigrants who had received temporary stay permits from Italian authorities.
Just over a month ahead of the first round of the presidential election–slated for April 22–Mr. Sarkozy is facing an uphill struggle against his Socialist challenger, who has been the favorite to gain the Elysee on May 6, when the second-round runoff takes place.
Hollande, Sarkozy’s biggest challenger, has been leading the surveys since he received the Socialist backing in October. Sarkozy’s popularity rose slightly after his campaign’s launch last month, but the latest polls show the president is losing ground again.
An OpinionWay-Fiducial poll, carried out between March 5 and 7 and released Thursday evening, showed 29% of potential voters would chose Hollande if the first round of presidential elections were held now, while 26% would pick Sarkozy. Hollande was unchanged, while Sarkozy lost one percentage point since the company’s last comparable poll released on Feb. 19. In the second round, Hollande would defeat the incumbent president 56% to 44%, the poll showed.
While the president has vowed to retire from politics if he can’t manage to secure a second mandate, a streak of wrong notes have put him in a difficult spot.
Mr. Sarkozy precipitously announced that Edith Bouvier, a French journalist detained in the Syrian city of Homs, had been freed, only to backpedal a few hours later. In a further setback to the president, the country’s constitutional court rejected a bill punishing the denial of the Armenian genocide, which Mr. Sarkozy had personally backed. Most recently, Mr. Sarkozy was booed by an angry group of protesters while campaigning in the southwest city of Bayonne, forcing him to take refuge in a cafe under the shelter of riot police.
-By Gabriele Parussini, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 4017 1740; gabriele.parussini@dowjones.com
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