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PARIS - From Germany and Brussels, where he brokered a deal to overhaul European institutions, to Poland, Algeria and Tunisia, followed by trips to Libya, Senegal and Gabon by way of conferences on Darfur and Lebanon, France's "hyper-president", Nicolas Sarkozy, has earned his restless title.
France has not
seen such an active President on foreign policy for more than a quarter of a century, when Francois Mitterrand took office in 1981. But the purpose for Sarkozy's ambitious, frenetic drive is unclear.
Some analysts see it as a gut response by Sarkozy that simply aims to shake France out of its long slumber, while others view it as part of a longer strategy which aims to restore French pre-eminence in the world's hot spots.
The campaign itself seems to be unfolding on several fronts. One is close to home, to reassert France's prime role, in alliance with Germany, in the European Union, after more than two years of crisis sparked by a treaty for institutional reform.
Further afield, Sarkozy is supporting fragile countries where France has traditionally had an influence, such as Lebanon, which faces internal schism; Algeria and Tunisia, its former colonies in North Africa, where the peril comes from Islamists; and countries in French-speaking West Africa that are troubled by insurgents.
Then he has set his sights on countries that are clearly pivotal, such as Sudan, where the conflict in Darfur has been spurred by jockeying for oil by the world's economic powers, and Libya, which lies just across the Mediterranean from Europe and is rich in hydrocarbons.
On the face of it, Sarkozy's moves match the traditional Gaullist line of using diplomacy as a tool to further national prestige and sell French goods, especially warplanes, gunboats and nuclear plants.
Sarkozy's tack, though, has been to tone down notions of Gaullist arrogance and instead emphasise multilateralism and human rights.
His Foreign Minister is Bernard Kouchner, who founded the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres and who brands Darfur a stain on the human conscience. Kouchner helped drive through Wednesday's landmark United Nations Security Council resolution for a peacekeeping mission in Darfur, the largest operation of its kind anywhere in the world.
Human Rights Minister Rama Yade, meanwhile, has set her sights on the release of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
But suspicions that beneath Sarkozy's 21st-century exterior lies a Gaullist of yore were stoked by his role in securing the release last month of six foreign medics by Libya.
While in Tripoli, Sarkozy signed a memorandum of understanding to build a nuclear reactor for water desalination, thereby triggering deep anxiety in Germany, where there is a powerful green movement.
And, according to the daily Le Monde, he also set up a lucrative arms deal by securing the release of the jailed medics, who were accused of infecting children with HIV.
It quotes Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, as saying France will sell anti-tank missiles to Libya with a value of around ¬100 million ($180 million). There is also an agreement for the joint manufacture of military equipment and an accord to conduct joint military exercises, he said.
Frederic Bozo of the Sorbonne University in Paris says it is hard to map where Sarkozy is going with this high-profile, high-risk diplomacy.
"He had a mandate to work out the European treaty and to work on the Bulgarian nurses, and he has delivered," says Bozo. "Beyond that, I think you have to take it case by case. But he is bringing more visibility to France."
Across the Atlantic, Sarkozy is viewed positively. Unlike previous French presidents who tried to set their mark on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and the Balkans, Sarkozy is content at the moment to leave leadership of these problems to the United States and exercise French influence through Nato, the EU or the UN.
