WikiLeaks: Sarkozy is ‘thin-skinned, erratic, tyrannical and hyperactive’

LONDON - WikiLeaks cables have described French president Nicolas Sarkozy as thin-skinned, erratic, tyrannical and hyperactive.

The cables detail how his advisers were so afraid of sparking his anger that they reportedly diverted his plane to avoid him seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up in the colours of the Turkish flag.

A series of classified US memos portray the president as undiplomatic and sometimes uncouth and in need of careful handling.

The president “has few restraints - political, personal or ideological - to act as a brake on his global ambitions”, reports the Guardian.

He promoted those “prepared to adopt his policies” and marginalised those “with a diverse view”, demoting ministers for disagreeing with him, said the memo to the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, from ambassador Charles Rivkin in December 2009.

The memos analysed Sarkozy’s divorce, whirlwind remarriage and flashy lifestyle.

In 2007, barely six months into Sarkozy’s presidency, a note to Bush told of a French president repeatedly rebuking his team and prime minister, “raising questions about a thin-skinned and authoritarian personal style”.

“On permanent overdrive and intense in the best of times, Sarkozy’s recent divorce raises questions about his ability to maintain his equilibrium and focus. Sarkozy has himself spoken of his dependence on Cecilia - ‘my source of strength and my achilles heel’, as he put it.

During their separation in 2005, a highly irritable, darker Sarkozy came into view - the same one that reappeared at the Lisbon summit the day after the announcement of the divorce,” the memo noted.

Seven months later, after Sarkozy’s whirlwind marriage to Carla Bruni, a note to Bush concluded that Sarkozy’s personal popularity had plummeted “mostly as a result of his ‘unpresidential’ parading of his personal life and his weakness for glitz - an image he is now seeking to repair”.

A note for Barack Obama in March 2009 summarised Sarkozy, “A pragmatist and an activist, he can be brilliant, impatient, undiplomatic, hard to predict, charming, innovative, and summit-prone.”

A report on Sarkozy’s African diplomacy warned of a “bedside manner needing fine-turning”.

One “rare glimpse of a relaxed Sarkozy” came when the then interior minister and presidential hopeful invited the US ambassador, Craig Stapleton, to see him in 2006, to say how “proud and honoured” he was to soon be meeting Bush.

After the exchange, Sarkozy, who is renowned for introducing his son Louis to dignitaries, opened the patio windows and called the nine-year-old.

“Louis appeared at the threshold with a small dog at his feet and a large rabbit in his arms,” the memo said. “To shake hands with the ambassador, Louis put down the rabbit - and the dog started chasing the rabbit through Sarkozy’s office, which led to the unforgettable sight of Sarkozy, bent over, chasing the dog through the anteroom to his office as the dog chased the rabbit, and Louis filled the room with gleeful laughter.” (ANI)