PARIS: Nicolas Sarkozy is not one to shut himself away. But he is planning to go on a three-day post-victory retreat to an isolated corner of France, perhaps a monastery. Three days, he has decided, would allow him to calmly digest victory, come to terms with the ``seriousness of the weight on his shoulders'' and ``step into the role'' of President that he has striven for all his adult life.

Mr. Sarkozy's first 100 days in power have already been carefully planned. The self-styled man of action believes that if he is to deliver his promised economic revolution and soothe French malaise he must push through his most important reforms in his first months: loosening the 35-hour week, limiting strike powers, tightening immigration laws, bringing in increased penalties for young re-offenders that he failed to introduce as Interior Minister, and kick-starting his plans for a ``nation of homeowners.''

Majority

Work will begin before the June parliamentary elections, when he hopes France will deliver a majority for the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party which he leads.

Far from Charles de Gaulle's idea of being an arbiter above party politics, Mr. Sarkozy wants to be a presidential leader. Media savvy, he wants to regularly address the French in TV appearances and press conferences, to address Parliament and submit proposed appointments for its approval.

After Mr. Sarkozy is sworn in (on May 16 at the latest) his first act will be to choose his prime minister and decide a government of 15 ministers, which he has promised will be balanced between men and women. A new minister of immigration and national identity is expected to be among them.

The current favourite for prime minister is Francois Fillon, 57, a UMP Senator, a former Education and Social Affairs Minister with a reputation for relishing difficult reforms in the face of street protests.

Mr. Sarkozy has said that in his first week in power, the first two days will be spent organising two big September summits, one with unions and employers over labour laws, another on the environment.

On his third day, he will travel to Berlin and Brussels to discuss his proposed mini-treaty for the EU constitution that he would pass through the French Parliament, not by referendum. His first non-EU foreign trip will be to Africa.

In June, and in an extraordinary parliamentary session in July, he intends to push through his first measures. Immigration laws will be tightened, raising the barrier for families allowed to join legal immigrant workers.

Then he will loosen the 35-hour working week, cutting the taxes on overtime and raising overtime pay. Strike powers will be curbed, providing for a basic public transport service during strikes and enforcing secret ballots for continued strike action.

He will reform the sentencing system for repeat offenders who, he says, are at the heart of the crime problem. Multiple offenders will, after ``three strikes,'' get the maximum penalty

Those aged 16 and above who re-offend will be treated as adults, part of a process to see young offenders treated more like adults.

He will also set in motion his plans for a homeowners' revolution and cut inheritance tax.

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2007

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