What the press reported

French President Nicolas Sarkozy faces a daunting battle but his removal would be a loss to world politics, Britain’s press said yesterday.

“Britain has had many disputes with President Sarkozy, not least his obsession with the introduction of a financial transactions tax that could do serious damage to the City of London,” said The Times leading article.

“Yet in many ways he has been an impressive leader both for France and for the rest of the world.”

Fellow broadsheet The Daily Telegraph (Conservative) warned that Mr Sarkozy faced “a taller order than any of his predecessors” to secure a second five-year term.

The left-of-centre Independent agreed that despite being “a powerful campaigner”, Mr Sarkozy faced “the greatest uphill battle of any incumbent French leader of recent times”.

French media

Nicolas Sarkozy’s announcement that he will seek re-election has freed him to put his formidable campaign skills to the test and tackle his disadvantage in the polls, the French press said. Describing Mr Sarkozy as a “campaign animal,” le Parisien said the announcement marked the true beginning of Mr Sarkozy’s efforts to catch up to his poll-leading Socialist rival François Hollande.

Pro-Sarkozy newspaper Le Figaro said the campaign was a two-horse race that will be decided on May 6.

“The French people will have a choice on May 6 between two visions of the world,” it said in an editorial.

“The first... consists of thinking that France can dodge the bullet by adapting as little as possible to the new world,” it wrote. “Another vision of the future ... that France cannot take part in the great race of globalisation with weights tied to its feet,” it added.