Foreign Priority Will Be to Improve Relations with US ; SARKOZY WINS

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He has been called an "American neo-conservative with a French passport". That particular barb against Nicolas Sarkozy came from Eric Besson, the senior economic adviser to the Socialist candidate, Segolene Royal, who defected to her rival during the election campaign.

But M. Sarkozy has never minded being called "Sarkozy the American", - an insult in France - as he admitted to an audience of American-Jewish leaders in New York in 2004. In September last year, he drew howls of protest after a meeting with President George Bush in which he broke the taboo on criticis-ing his government's policy.

M. Sarkozy, who was Interior Minister at the time, distanced himself …