All Sizzle But No Steak.(World Affairs; FRANCE)

Byline: Tracy McNicoll

The French president says his reforms so far were appetizers. The main course is coming.

Is France's speedy maitre d' better at the sell than the service? Over the past eight months French President Nicolas Sarkozy has given the impression of a fresh new leader hungry for change, charging through reforms that, in his own words, were merely the "appetizer." But while observers give the rookie president kudos for keeping his electoral promises -- a novelty in France and a precondition for any worthwhile reform -- Sarkozy, they say, has proved to be far more flash than substance. "The headlines say Sarkozy's 'rolling like a hell train,'" says French political scientist Dominique Reynie, of Paris's Sciences Po. "But what is he going so fast on? I don't see it. I read he's 'on the charge.' I saw a magazine cover story calling it 'a commando rhythm.' It's propaganda. I don't find that in the legislation."

Indeed, Sarkozy's modus operandi since taking office in May seems to be to just keep on moving, making announcements, jetting around the world, promoting big symbols of French reform -- but leaving scant opportunity to assess the outcome. He has kept so much reform on the docket -- watering down the 35-hour workweek, tightening immigration rules, giving universities more autonomy -- that unions and others can't keep pace. So busy has he been, both personally and professionally, that the French complain there are too many Sarkozy mentions in broadsheet newspaper coverage. One group implored the media to make this past Nov. 30 a Sarkozy-free day (the movement failed miserably). "The effect of this announcement after announcement is an impression that everything is moving," says former junior minister Francois Goulard, a dissenter in Sarkozy's own UMP party. "But it's only an impression."

There is little question that Sarkozy has made the right noises -- and lots of them. His first major reform was a package of tax cuts this summer that was intended to provide a "shock of confidence" to boost growth. It cut taxes on overtime hours, inheritances and some mortgages. It also capped personal tax at 50 percent to encourage rich expatriates to return home and spark investment. Instead, the nearly €14 billion per year package tied up a budget that already has a €41 billion deficit. Worse, growth remains at 1.9 percent, falling short of the 2 to 2.5 percent Sarkozy wanted. Economists now say the tax cut looks more like a sop to the rich than an economic stimulus, and criticize the self-styled "purchasing-power president" for failing to see the core problem wasn't consumer spending, but helping companies become more competitive by eliminating or reducing rigid labor laws.

Not helping matters were global financial woes, which sparked inflation and increased French anxiety. But the crisis made Sarkozy's tax cuts look more hasty than take-charge. "It shows 'I'm going so fast that I don't look at what is happening around me,'" says Xavier Timbeau, the director of analysis and forecasting at the French Economic Observatory.

His next big reform was an attempt to abolish the archaic "special regimes" that gave a minority of public-sector workers early retirement. It sparked nine days of crippling strikes in ...