FRANCE:Two challenges will shape international society in the 21st century, French president Nicolas Sarkozy has told the diplomatic corps during his new year's wishes ceremony in Paris: climate change and "the conditions of the religious revival in most of our societies".
In recent weeks, Mr Sarkozy's frequent references to God and France's "Christian heritage" have alarmed French secularists.
Since visiting Pope Benedict in Rome last month, he noted: "I have explained my concept of a secularism in which the place of religion would be defined in more positive terms. Before the consultative council of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh this week, I . . . pleaded for an open, tolerant concept of religion."
When he was interior minister, "I authorised an unprecedented number of mosques in France, for Islam is now our second religion," Mr Sarkozy said. Referring to the ban on churches in Saudi Arabia, he added: "How can those who demand the opening of mosques in France refuse the opening of churches everywhere where it would be justified?"
Elements of Mr Sarkozy's speech yesterday were in the tradition of Charles de Gaulle and Jacques Chirac - his "conviction that France has an important and doubtless irreplaceable role to play on the international stage", his call for "a new concert of great powers, a multipolar world in which the European Union could progressively become one of the most active poles".
Yet he also called for "a certain rupture" that would firmly place France "within the heart of the western family."
To hear him, one would not suspect that he is the most pro-American president in French history. He quoted himself telling the US Congress that France "is an independent ally, a partner who remains free".
European integration "is our absolute priority", he said. "Thanks to the simplified [ Lisbon] treaty, after 10 years of debate that paralysed our institutions, Europe is on the move again and France has regained its place in the heart of the union."
The French presidency would concentrate on defence policy, climate change, immigration, the "refoundation" of the Cap after 2013 and the international responsibilities of the EU. Mr Sarkozy implied that Serbia may join the EU if it accepted the loss of Kosovo gracefully.
He called for "firmness" and sanctions against Iran to force the government to negotiate, but said "our objective is in no way to change the regime, but on the contrary to integrate Iran as a positive actor in its region". Henceforward, France would pursue "a diplomacy of reconciliation".
Responding to critics who say he has abandoned his campaign commitment to human rights, the president justified his contacts with the leaders of various African states, Venezuela and Libya.
"When the orientations of a dialogue are not respected . . . I must draw conclusions. That is what I did with President Bashar al- Assad over Lebanon.
"The battle for pluralism, for opening, for tolerance, for acceptance of the other in his difference, appears to me perhaps even more fundamental than the battle for democracy," he said.