Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa, Nicolas Paul Stéphane (1955– )

French right-of-centre politician, leader of the right-of-centre Union for Popular Movement (UMP) from 2004 and president from 2007. A former interior minister 2002–04 and 2005–07 and finance minister 2004–05, he defeated Ségolène Royal, the Socialist Party candidate, by 53% to 47% in the May 2007 presidential election. The first French president to be born after World War II, he is a forceful advocate of a new brand of French conservatism that combines a tough stance on crime and immigration with a free-market approach to the economy, which is influenced by the post-1997 UK ‘New Labour’ government. He appointed an inclusive 15 member cabinet which included four ministers from the left and seven women, including the first cabinet member of North African origin. His UMP won a majority in legislative elections held in June 2007.

A deputy in the French National Assembly from 1988, he was minister of the budget 1993–95. Initially a protégé of President Jacques Chirac, he fell out of favour when he supported Edouard Balladur's bid to become president in 1996. However Chirac recognized his talents and appointed him interior minister 2002–04 and finance minister in 2004. As interior minister he pushed through measures to curb illegal immigration, including deportations, but also advocated positive discrimination to reduce youth unemployment.

Born in Paris, the son of a Hungarian immigrant who became an advertising executive, and a mother of Greek Jewish origin, he trained as a lawyer, specializing in business law. Unlike many in the French ruling class, he did not go to the Ecole Nationale d'Administration. He was mayor of the prosperous Paris suburb of Neuilly 1983–2002.