Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy (born in Paris January 28 1955) is a French politician.
He has been the finance minister in the government of prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin since the cabinet shuffle of March 31, 2004. He was the interior minister in the previous Raffarin cabinet.
Nicolas Sarkozy was a deputy to the French National Assembly for several terms. From 1993 to 1995, he was minister of budget and spokesman of the executive in the cabinet of prime minister ÃÂÃÂdouard Balladur. Since 1977 he used to be the mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine.
He holds a bachelor's degree in law and a certificate of aptitude to the profession of attorney. He also has a degree from the Institut d'ÃÂÃÂtudes Politiques de Paris.
Nicolas Sarkozy's actions as interior minister, in charge of law enforcement, were controversial in France: while generally popular for his "tough on crime" policies, he was criticized for pushing for legislation that, allegedly, infringed on civil rights and for targetting some disenfranchised classes of the population (beggars, prostitutes, youngsters from housing projects...).