[1] With the quinquennat reform of 2000, the president of the republic has a five-year term to lead freely the domestic policy he wants, if ever he obtains the majority at the legislative election, which is very likely to occur.

[3] However, as François Fillon was politically very close to the President, Nicolas Sarkozy could be very active both in foreign relations and in domestic reforms.

As President-in-Office of the European Council during the last six months of 2008, and as the president of a member country of the G-8 and the G-20, Nicolas Sarkozy was very much involved in the international debates and propositions to fight against the crisis.

Then the new president went to the Cascade du Bois de Boulogne of Paris for a homage to the French Resistance and to the Communist resistant Guy Moquet – he proposed that all high-school students read Guy Moquet's last letter to his parents, which was criticized by a number of leftists as a cynical form of reappropriation of French history by the right.

In addition to Kouchner, three more Sarkozy ministers are from the left, including Eric Besson, who served as Ségolène Royal's economic adviser at the beginning of her campaign.

[23] The ministers were reorganized, with the controversial creation of a Ministry of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Co-Development – given to his right-hand man Brice Hortefeux – and of a Ministry of Budget, Public Accounts and Civil Administration – handed out to Éric Wœrth, supposed to prepare the replacement of only a third of all civil servants who retire.The UMP, Sarkozy's party, won a majority at the June 2007 legislative election, although by less than expected.

In July, the UMP majority, seconded by the Nouveau Centre, approved one of Sarkozy's electoral promise, which was to quasi-suppress the inheritance tax.

Furthermore, Sarkozy cut with the custom of amnestying traffic tickets and of releasing some prisoners from overcrowded jails on Bastille Day, a tradition that Napoleon had started in 1802 to commemorate the storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution[27] Fillon's government issued a decree on 7 August 2007 to generalize a voluntary biometric profiling program of travellers in airports.

[27] Additionally, President Sarkozy pledged to sell Libya three civil nuclear power stations as part of a package of trade and assistance that will boost the role of French companies in the oil-rich country.

[36] And during Tony Blair's visit end of May 2007, the British group BP signed a natural gas contract for 900 million dollars.

[39] Furthermore, Philippe Delaune, the CEA's spokesman, added that in any case, any transfer concerning the ERP technology would take at least ten or fifteen years.

[42] On 27 July 2007, Sarkozy delivered a speech in Senegal, written by Henri Guaino, in which he made reference to "African peasants"[43][44] (note that the French word "paysans" can be translated as either "peasants" or as "rural people") and said that colonialism was not the cause of all of Africa's problems,[43] France made mistakes in Africa though "did not exploit anyone",[44] and asked young Africans to fight against corruption and violence.

The African peasant, who for thousands of years has lived according to the seasons, whose life ideal was to be in harmony with nature, only knew the eternal renewal of time...

He also advocated reducing the separation of church and state, arguing for the government subsidy of mosques in order to encourage Islamic integration into French society.

[50] Sarkozy visited Pope Benedict XVI on 20 December 2007, and formally received the title of Honorary Chanoine of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which is automatically conferred to each French President.

Ten months after his election, France's economy remained sluggish and Sarkozy had backed off from many of the sweeping reforms that he promised on the campaign trail.

The French Parliament began an initial inquiry on the issue shortly after President Nicolas Sarkozy stated in June 2009 that religious face veils were "not welcome" within France.

[63] Fadela Amara, who had recently served as a junior minister in the French government and is a Muslim, had previously declared: "The veil is the visible symbol of the subjugation of women, and therefore has no place in the mixed, secular spaces of France's state school system.

The sole vote against the ban in the National Assembly was cast by Daniel Garrigue, who warned that "to fight an extremist behavior, we risk slipping toward a totalitarian society.

[66] Sarkozy tried to strengthen the ties with the United States after they had been loosened when Jacques Chirac decided not to take part in the Iraq War in 2003.

[70] Sarkozy said 14 March 2008 he won "unanimous" backing for his plan to forge closer political ties with Europe's North African and Mideast neighbors on the Mediterranean.

[71] On 8 June 2007, during the 33rd G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Sarkozy set a goal of reducing French CO2 emissions by 50% by 2050 in order to prevent global warming.

He then pushed forward the important Socialist figure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn as European nominee to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

[72] Critics alleged that Sarkozy proposed to nominate Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the IMF to deprive the Socialist Party of one of its more popular figures.

[73] Sarkozy's government took an unexpected step regarding the 2011 Libyan civil war: after some initial confusion they supported the National Transitional Council, opposed to Muammar Gaddafi.

During the 2008 South Ossetia war, Nicolas Sarkozy played a significant role, as he proposed a ceasefire to the conflict that was accepted by both the Russians and the Georgians.

He was hosted in Roberto Hernández Ramírez's hotel, El Tamarindo Beach and Golf Resort, a billionaire who has been accused of involvement in drug trade.

[78] There were also protests from November 2008 to May 2009 in the French overseas territories because of the high cost of living there because there is a tax which means imports from France get a tariff added to them.

However, after suspicions of nepotism (see Jean Sarkozy) and a slowdown in the french economy after an initial period of growth after the great recession, he lost more than 5 percent in confidence and never really recovered, bar during his reelection attempt.

[83] On the other side, right-wing discontent grew as National Front's new president Marine Le Pen launched an early campaign.