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PARIS - A month after he swept to power and steeled France for a conservative revolution, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is soft-pedalling on several of the issues that he had named as targets for root-and-branch reform.
On the grounds of pragmatism - or, say skeptics, to avoid nasty
headlines ahead of this weekend's legislative elections - Sarkozy is diluting or delaying policies that he had said would provide an urgent fix.
A cornerstone of his campaign manifesto was a proposal to guarantee minimum service during public transport strikes which have dogged France during the past dozen years.
Predicted by his critics to want to ram authoritarian laws through a quiescent Parliament, Sarkozy has taken the wind out of their sails with a mild-mannered, consultative approach.
After reassuring trade unions that he did not want to take away their right to strike, Sarkozy has opted for "framework legislation" in which transport employers, workers and local government will spend months negotiating separate arrangements on how to establish a minimum service at a time of industrial action.
Another big issue for Sarkozy was to scrap France's so-called school map - the rules by which children can only go to schools in their immediate area of residence.
Sarkozy says the "map" has created ghettoes in housing and education, because well-off parents can afford to buy homes in areas with good schools.
But after running into opposition from teachers' unions and the Education Ministry, he has decided to phase in the change over at least three years.
Also softened is an unpopular plan for a small yearly charge to help fill the enormous deficit in the health budget. It was conceived as a universal charge but now won't apply to low-income households.
Other Sarkozy schemes are being rethought because of the difficulties in implementing them.
Under his campaign slogan of "work more to earn more", Sarkozy wants hours worked beyond France's 35-hour week to be free of income tax and payroll charges. But the project may violate the constitution, which stipulates that everyone must be equal in the application of tax - in other words, those who cannot work overtime must not be unfairly penalised.
His initiative to make the interest payments on mortgages tax-deductible is also being put through the wringer. Worried that this may cost tens of billions of euros in lost revenue for the state, Sarkozy's lieutenants are now making noises to the effect that there will be strict limits on the bounty that homeowners can expect.
These and other measures will be put to the National Assembly that will emerge after the upcoming elections, which start with a first round on Sunday, followed by a run-off vote on June 17.
On foreign affairs, too, Sarkozy is having to cope with some tough realities.
He has started to backtrack on his campaign promise to block Turkey's membership of the European Union.
He has decided not to oppose moves at an EU summit to launch the next phase of entry talks, say aides.
As a quid pro quo, Sarkozy will gain support from other leaders for a short, less ambitious version of the moribund European constitution.
Sarkozy's switch, from Mr Tough Guy as Interior Minister to Mr Nice Guy as President, has given him a surge of popularity and left his opponents sour.
Socialist leader Segolene Royal, who was beaten by Sarkozy in the May 6 presidential ballot, describes Sarkozy as a vote-poaching liar.
"People are going to be aware, bit by bit, that they have been conned on a certain number of proposals that are now untenable," she told a rally in La Rochelle.
"Nicolas Sarkozy has been telling lies ... today the time for truth has come."
That's not how the public sees it. Two opinion polls published this week say between two-thirds and three-quarters of respondents say Sarkozy has made a good start to his term. And his Union for a Popular Movement is on course for 420 to 460 seats in the 577-member National Assembly, up from its present contingent of 359. The last new president who enjoyed such popularity was General Charles de Gaulle, Sarkozy's hero.
