Sarkozy pledges a different style

The conservative leader, who is lagging behind Socialist challenger Francois Hollande in opinion polls for a two-round April-May election, has sought to repair his low popularity ratings during his campaign, apologising for early gaffes and explaining personality traits that jarred with some French. ”I will be different. I will already have been president for five years and you don’t repeat mistakes already made,” Sarkozy told glossy weekly Paris Match in an interview published on Wednesday. “The main one is to think I was still a minister. “As a minister you need to be reactive and fast-acting, but as president you need, along with being reactive, to be able to step back from things and you also need to stand back and be solemn.” Sarkozy is being punished in opinion polls for both his brash manner and for the economic gloom that has hung over France since the global financial crisis turned into an economic crisis that left Europe mired in a debt crisis. Sarkozy, who is expected to unveil the remaining details of his 2012 program next week, has narrowed the gap with Hollande in the last couple of weeks, with some voter surveys placing him 1-2 points ahead for the April 22 first round.