'Sarkozy Has Learned to Like Angela Merkel'

Spiegel
January 24, 2012

The EU's leadership duo of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy has become increasingly important over the course of the euro crisis. In a SPIEGEL interview, a close adviser to Sarkozy provides an inside look at Europe's most crucial relationship.

Alain Minc was born in Paris to Jewish immigrants from Poland. His father, Joseph Minkowski, was a dentist and a member of the Communist Party. After completing his studies at the elite universities Sciences Po and the École Nationale d'Administration, Minc began a singular career as an intellectual, political adviser and businessman. Although he has no official role, he is part of a close group of advisers to Nicolas Sarkozy.

Minc has written more than two dozen books and sat on the board of various companies, and he plays a central role in elite Parisian circles. His consulting firm AM Conseil consists of a secretary, a chauffeur and Minc himself. In 2010, the firm has a turnover of over €7.8 million ($10.2 million). Several weeks ago, Minc became the head of the French highway operator SANEF.

For this interview, Minc received SPIEGEL in his grand offices on Avenue George V in Paris's 8th arrondissement. On the walls hang two large portraits of Samuel Beckett by the photographer Richard Avedon. In a corner stands a bust of Joseph Stalin, a gift from his friend, the billionaire François Pinault.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Minc, let's start with the important things. Does French President Nicolas Sarkozy really like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, or does he just pretend to?

Minc: I think he has learned to like her. At the beginning, you couldn't have imagined two more disparate people. She comes from the north, while he comes from the south. She's a scientist, and he's a lawyer. She proceeds methodically, while he acts intuitively. She's a woman, and he's a man. She leads an impossible coalition, while he is the king of France.

SPIEGEL: She is very controlled, while he isn't.

Minc: He's learning to control himself. I think both of them have come a long way: from necessity to complicity, and from there to, as Nicolas Sarkozy tells me, real affection. You know, there are only three women in Sarkozy's life: Carla Bruni, his daughter and Angela Merkel.

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