Sarkozy, Nicolas

Sarkozy, Nicolas (Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarkozy de Nagy-Bocsa) (nēkōlä` särkōzē`), 1955–, French politician, b. Paris. A lawyer and a conservative, Sarkozy was (1983–2002) mayor of Neuilly, a Paris suburb, and was elected to the National Assembly from the Hauts-de-Seine dept. in 1988 and reelected in 1993, 1995, and 1997. Sarkozy served in Premier Balladur's cabinet as budget minister (1993–94), and as Raffarin's interior minister (2002–04) he gained a reputation for being tough on crime and immigration. A longtime member of the neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic party (RPR), he joined the new center-right coalition, Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). He was appointed finance minister in 2004, but resigned later that year to become UMP party leader; from 2005 to 2007 he again served as interior minister. Popular and charismatic, the energetic Sarkozy has been characterized as a media-savvy American-style politician; in late 2006 he announced his candidacy for the 2007 French presidential race; he secured the UMP nomination for the post in Jan., 2007.