The risk to appear on this point on the defensive

The gesture was probably sincere; It was also tuned for the cameras. Before Saturday, the national Council of the UMP, in Aubervilliers, the kickoff of the campaign of the majority for the regional of next March, Nicolas Sarkozy took care to give a warm hug to Rajendra Pachauri, the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Group of experts on the evolution of the climate. The presence of the Nobel Prize for peace and the very complimentary remarks made by the latter were a boon to the head of State, who applies, since the European, to the appeals of the foot to the voters of Europe ecology.

Before his troops and the bulk of the Government, the President has, in the aftermath, advocated a new "openness" non-persons but ideas, starting with the ecology. "This is not an ideology, is not a fad, is not a trick, is not a tactic, is not positioning." "It's a belief", he assured. Four months of the regional, Nicolas Sarkozy returned to its 2007 strategy: try to stir up trouble in the opposing camp while consolidating its basement. "Be faithful to its values and to expand the theme for the future." "This is the key", he explained.

Anti-carbone tax in banner, the head of State and leaders of the majority is are relayed to highlight the pioneering of the Government role in the fight against climate change. And insist on the France-led "crusade" to make a success of the Copenhagen Summit. If Copenhagen, "the world will have the to the France and the strategy of its President", even said Jean-Pierre Raffarin. And if it fails The Executive will ensure for the establishment of a carbon tax at the borders of Europe, promised François Fillon.

All want to believe that the majority can take advantage of "absence" of PS on environmental issues. "The debate on the future of the world is here", the UMP, has prided itself Chantal Jouanno, Secretary of State for ecology.

Looking for a balance

The strategy is not without risk. First because the speech can benefit the environmentalists themselves. Then because it can rush a right electorate still partly resistant to environmental concerns. Seeking the right balance, Nicolas Sarkozy became the Apostle of a more responsible "people's ecology", he told, as the "improbable strategy of decay" of environmentalists. And he sent signals to his traditional electorate, pledging again to never raise taxes and never carry out general regularization of undocumented migrants. (Wishing to fuel the debate on this theme, he accused Martine Aubry to "shake the red cloth to back the NF", is attracting a response of the PS which stated that "no lesson to receive" it.)

Xavier Bertrand, the Secretary General of the UMP, has spoken to him, "national identity" and the role of the "family" of the transmission of the "moral", as opposed to the burqa and the adoption by homosexual couples. A particularly acclaimed passage.

Until then, Nicolas Sarkozy is was refused to blow the candles in the mid-term, referring time accounts to 2012. Before the UMP, he changed his and devoted a large part of his speech defending his record, autocélébrant his "courage" and its resoluteness. Hadopi, minimum service, inheritance rights, autonomy of universities, reduction of the VAT in the restaurant, reform of local government...: it was all justified, stopping more particularly on the tax shield. The risk to appear, on this point, on the defensive.