It's never easy following through on an electoral pledge, and if any politician knows how difficult it is, then it must be the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy So far he has failed miserably on last year's major presidential campaign promise to increase the purchasing power of the average man and woman on the street here in France and kick-start the sluggish economy he inherited

It's just under a fortnight until France takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union and already the rest of Europe is getting a taste of what it can expect At a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday, Sarkozy said the Union would not be able to go ahead with any further expansion without ratification of the Lisbon treaty

It

The French justice minister, Rachida Dati, has once again shown that she has a less than a firm grasp of her job by doing a complete volte face in a case that has been making the headlines here in France over the past week On Monday Dati asked the public prosecutors office to appeal a court ruling, which had annulled a marriage because the wife had lied about being a virgin