Defining measuresFor three weeks it is hunting for ideas

This is two and a half months that Nicolas Sarkozy prepares its relaunch plan. Here are the steps of a speech for which nothing has been left to chance.

Prepare the minds

"Facing the downturn naturally the question arises of the recovery of our economy." The sentence is not from the speech declared Nicolas Sarkozy today, but that of Toulon, September 25, a few days after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, which marks its entry into the war against the crisis. If, for the first time, the head of State is then to the taboo word of "boost", it is that he has the intuition that the financial crisis will have serious repercussions on activity, and that it will take time to prepare the minds for a change of economic bracket. Including its majority, who designed not to deviate from the path of Maastricht on deficits. The operation, in fact, is bearing fruit. After to be offended over the months of October and have taken to target Henri Guaino, "lax" found Adviser of Nicolas Sarkozy, UMP deputies since largely shelved their budgetary, AMRS, concerns also by the need to provide a response to the economic difficulties that accumulate to constituents. The meeting of the Group UMP Tuesday the Assembly members were clearly more concerned with details of what their cost of François Fillon. It must be said that, since two months and a half, the relatives of the President attached to hammering a message which is reassuring: it will be measures more investment stimulus to relaunching consumption; and all weigh financially that on 2009 at least as may.

Find the good timing

Convinced the need for a stimulus package long, Nicolas Sarkozy has much hesitated on when to announce it. Early January, to open a new phase after the end of the French Presidency of the European Union, or more quickly Ten days ago, it has decided for the second solution. After the last Council of Franco-German Ministers, "he understood that it would not happen in a process coordinated with the Germany", advance to the Elysee Palace. "There was more reason to wait."

Defining measures

For three weeks, it is hunting for ideas. "It must be more human, more powerful and very pragmatic," hammer presidential advisers. Nicolas Sarkozy tests its ideas in all political or technical meetings held in the Elysee Palace. Ministers of economy (Christine Lagarde), budget (Eric Woerth), employment (Laurent Wauquiez) and development sustainable (Jean-Louis Borloo) mobilized as never. the prefects invited "emptying their drawers" to escalate all investment projects in ten years.

Greet the time

This is not a discourse of the political scope of Toulon, as evidenced by this simple detail: the desk of the President will be the words "stimulus plan", while there were "Toulon speech" on the back. Nevertheless, the Elysee Palace has been the mark to the extreme. "Nicolas Sarkozy has had got excited lately too technical texts that he had to decide", decrypts a close. The speech will be given to Douai, city of the first "presidential speech" in 2006; It was largely written by the lyrical Henri Guaino Quill; and it was bathed in secret. The weekly meeting of the leaders of the majority, Monday, was postponed: it is only this morning that they will be consulted on the final President arbitrations, just until it flies to Douai.