Merkel to lend Sarkozy a helping hand

According to several French media, German chancellor Angela Merkel is going to help Nicolas Sarkozy with his election campaign. She will make her appearance at several election meetings in France this spring. The Merkozy couple, as the two leaders came to be known during the euro crisis, has had an awkward relationship. They meet each other almost every other week, and they somehow found a modus operandi. Merkel’s CDU and Sarkozy’s UMP are both in the same political camp.

The incumbent French president needs any support he can find. His major opponent, Socialist leader François Hollande, is leading in the polls. The most recent one gives him even a crushing 60% victory in the second round on May 6, 2012. The possibility of losing begins to dawn upon Sarkozy. Last week he even speculated about the end of his political career. In a last attempt to reverse the trend, the president will present a number of reforms tomorrow night, like a VAT-raise of 1,6% and probably some kind of financial transaction tax. Sarkozy will be interviewed by four journalists at the Elysée. The event will be broadcasted live on at least nine French TV stations, a score which would even make Kim Jong-Un jealous.

The announcement of Merkel’s participation during Sarkozy’s campaign was made in a speech today by Hermann Gröhe, the national secretary of Merkel’s party CDU. The news is interesting because officially Nicolas Sarkozy is not a candidate yet. Cynics (like your correspondent) could regard the CDU announcing the candidacy of the French president before he does so himself, as a further step into the German bailout of Europe. Others could see it as a German birthday president: Nicolas Sarkozy is celebrating his 57th birthday today, quite likely his last one as a president.