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LONDON - DUE to a legal quirk, French President Nicolas Sarkozy cannot directly address his own parliament. But he will be speaking to a special joint session of the US Congress today.
The historic significance of this event goes much further, for Mr Sarkozy will be seeking to bury half a century of bickering between France and the US.
Seldom before has there been such a spectacular and fast turnaround in diplomatic relations.
France's suspicions of the US have a long pedigree. Their lowest point came in 2003 when France led the anti-Iraq-war camp, dashing President George W. Bush's hopes of getting UN authorisation for his military campaign.
Ordinary Americans responded in anger, pouring French wine down the drains or renaming French fries 'Freedom fries'.
Although feelings have calmed down since then, hostility between Washington and Paris remained second nature in both countries. French politicians never missed an opportunity of pinpricking the Americans, while US policy-makers were quick to blame France for any mischief.
Mr Sarkozy is now determined to break this vicious circle for good. And he does not care that his country's intellectuals are outraged by this abrupt departure from history.
McDonald's restaurants have long been regarded as part of America's cultural 'invasion', but the restaurant chain's biggest single market in Europe is actually France. In short, it is the Paris elite which is behind the times, not the country's population.
To underline his new approach, Mr Sarkozy spent his summer holidays in the US, something no other French leader ever considered.
He also pledged full support for US policies in the Middle East. In the confrontation over Iran's nuclear programme, the French are now tougher than the Americans.
'I will be a friend of the Americans. Oh yes, it's true. Don't torture me, I confess,' Mr Sarkozy said ironically in an interview with the French media recently.
Washington is persuaded that the change is real. As US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns put it recently, 'the tide has really turned' in the relationship between Paris and Washington.
Back in Paris, opposition leaders already deride Mr Sarkozy as 'Bush's poodle', a term once reserved for former British prime minister Tony Blair.
'Sarkozy is playing a dangerous game', warned Mr Pierre Moscovici, the Socialists' spokesman on international affairs. But Mr Sarkozy, who has a full presidential mandate ahead of him and no conceivable political rival, will ignore such backbiting.
Not that he intends to be anyone's lap-dog. During his speech to the US Congress scheduled for today, the French leader will mention the differences which still exist between his country and America.
France disagrees with the US over environmental issues, and still believes the Iraq war was a huge mistake. Furthermore, Mr Sarkozy has not abandoned the dream of creating a united Europe.
But, as he put it recently, France is 'in the same family' as the US and, as happens with every family, it must manage its differences as amicably as possible.
Overall, the French tilt towards the US is unmistakable. For his visit to Washington, Mr Sarkozy brought not only Mr Bernard Kouchner, his pro-American Foreign Minister, but also Justice Minister Rachida Dati, a Frenchwoman of North African parentage, and Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, who spent years in Chicago and now bluntly tells her people that they should roll up their sleeves and pursue a more American-style work ethic.
There is no question that Mr Sarkozy's diplomacy has already transformed Europe's politics.
Germany, which frequently acted as a mediator between Washington and Paris, is now discovering that the French no longer require such services. Dr Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, is mildly irritated by Mr Sarkozy's initiatives and showmanship.
But Dr Merkel, who will herself travel to the US at the end of this week, can only applaud the outcome, for the end of the Franco-American animosity removes one of the main bones of contention in relations across the Atlantic.
Ironically, the country most directly affected by these changes is Britain, until now America's closest European ally.
Mr Gordon Brown, its new prime minister, initially thought that adopting a cooler attitude towards the US would serve his purposes. Yet London will now have to retrace its steps if it does not wish to be overshadowed by France.
Either way, Mr Sarkozy is unlikely to be troubled. Indeed, beating the British at their own Washington game would be the kind of role reversal which most of the French electorate could learn to appreciate.
Jonathan.eyal@gmail.com
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