Sarkozy wants Europe-wide agreement on Beijing Games

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said tonight he will push for a European Union-wide agreement on whether to boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Mr Sarkozy said France is encouraging Chinese authorities to restart talks with Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, before the August 8 to 24 games. France will hold the rotating EU presidency at that time.

Mr Sarkozy has suggested he might miss the opening ceremony in response to China’s crackdown on protesters in Tibet.

The conservative French leader said in a televised interview tonight that he hopes to reach an agreement on any possible boycott among the EU’s 27 member states.

Mr Sarkozy also acknowledged making mistakes during his volatile first year as French president, but said he remains committed to deep reforms.

In the wide-ranging television interview, Mr Sarkozy defended his presidency amid mounting criticism from both those who say his promised reforms have been too weak and those who fear that he is dismantling the social protections many French hold dear.

“Without doubt, we didn’t explain enough. Without doubt, I myself made some mistakes,” he said, acknowledging that France is in “a bad mood.”

He remained combative and determined despite dismal poll ratings. “Let there be disappointment,” he said, adding the real test will come at the end of his five-year mandate.

Observers say the scope of reforms to labour protections, schools and healthcare hinges on Mr Sarkozy’s will to push them through – and his ability to convince the French of their importance.

Mr Sarkozy acknowledged that some of the 55 reforms undertaken in his presidency – most of them small-scale – were not explained well enough to the public.

Mr Sarkozy countered criticism of French voters’ economic woes by noting that the euro has been “at an extraordinary level” since his election compared with the weakening US dollar. He noted that oil prices have doubled since his election last May.

“We are in a difficult international context,” he said. But that is “one more reason to accelerate.”

It has been only a year since Sarkozy was elected on May 6 2007, and he noted repeatedly in tonight’s interview that he has four more to go to build a legacy and change France. His aides have urged him to rein in his impatient style.

He set the tone immediately after taking office. He overturned political tradition by inviting opposition Socialists into his government, then hit parliament with a volley of small but symbolic laws such as reducing taxes on overtime pay and reducing the impact of strikes.

On the international front he was bolder. He revived the EU constitution that French voters had buried and streamlined it into a treaty that the bloc’s 27 members could agree on.

But Mr Sarkozy’s drive appeared to lose steam over the winter, around the time he divorced his second wife, Cecilia, and began dating model-turned-singer Carla Bruni.

His high-profile romance soured voters feeling the pinch of the global economic downturn, while Mr Sarkozy’s impetuous outbursts and a blow to his party in local elections made matters worse.

Mr Sarkozy deflected a question on his private life in tonight’s interview.

“Tonight I came to talk about France and the problems of the French,” he said. “Regarding my private life, everything is back under control.”