French press review 16 February 2012

Tabloid Aujourd'hui en France goes for the simple option, with a colour photo of the man and the fateful words "Yes, I'm going to run again".

On its inside pages the daily quotes what it considers to be the three key elements in last night's television performance.

First, Sarko's call to all French voters, both left and right, to accept that the state can no longer spend more than it takes in.

Second, his dismissal of his chief opponent, the Socialist Party's François Hollande, as someone who has no ideas of his own, and has managed only an endless litany of criticism directed at Sarko himself.

"Has he nothing better to do than talk about me?" asks the candidate-president.

Third, and finally, Sarkozy's defence of his first term at the helm, saying he has achieved a lot but that you can't change a nation in five years.

Aujourd'hui en France also quotes François Hollande who was addressing the Socialist faithful in Rouen at the time of the broadcast. Told that Sarko had made his long-awaited announcement, Hollande offered an ironic "What a shock, it's an upheaval, sensational news."

Catholic La Croix goes for the same colour photo and the headline "The president-candidate", stressing the right-wing campaign slogan which promises "A strong France".

The Catholic paper also notes the presidential promise to make his second five years in charge, if he gets them, very different from the first mandate, a concession which Sarko's opponents won't be long about turning into a guilty admission of failure.

All about 2012 election

Left-leaning Libération has the man who would be president "talking to the common man" and promising said common man that he or she will be given a greater say in the running of the nation because, henceforth, all crucial legislation will be subject to ratification by referendum.

Libé's scathing editorial ends by quoting the president as saying that "he is eager to reestablish contact with the French".

How eager they are to reestablish contact with him will become clear on 22 April.

According to business daily Les Echos, Sarkozy has set himself up as the candidate of "truth", suggesting that Hollande is the candidate of something else entirely.

Right-wing Le Figaro has a smiling president promising the reforms that will, once again, make France strong.

Le Figaro editorial says the election will be fought between a man who has the honesty and the courage to accept the world as it is and do the best he can to improve France's position in that world and a man who thinks that old-fashioned rhetoric will make the problems magically disappear.

The headline in communist L'Humanité says "He wants to finish us off", suggesting that five years has been sufficient to knock the stuffing out of the French social model and that five more years will see it dead and buried.

Centrist Le Monde, which went to press before the actual announcement, has to settle for a profile of a man who, according to one close advisor, needs to advance by two or three points in the opinion polls over the next two weeks or he can throw his hat at reelection.

Le Monde sees a man who still has enormous self-belief and who remains convinced that Lady Luck is on his side.

But the paper wonders if he still has the physical strength and the intellectual sharpness that made him such a formidable proposition back in 2007.