Sarkozy wants to "protect" Europeans

By Francois Murphy

PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged on Monday to "protect" European Union citizens during France's six-month tenure of the EU presidency in a bid to make the bloc more relevant to everyday life, but offered few new measures.

Sarkozy's plan to make the next six months a model of European effectiveness was dealt a blow by Irish voters' rejection of a treaty to overhaul the bloc's institutions, holding up the pact which was supposed to take effect on January 1.

In a one-hour live televised interview on the eve of taking over the presidency, Sarkozy said he would seek to address voters' concerns by pushing for tax breaks on products ranging from petrol to green goods and restaurants with table service.

"Things are not going well. Things are not going well at all," Sarkozy told France 3 television.

"Europe worries people and, worse than that, I find, little by little our fellow citizens are asking themselves if after all the national level isn't better equipped to protect them than the European level," he said, adding that was not the case.

Irish voters rejected the Lisbon Treaty earlier this month for reasons ranging from the fact the text is incomprehensible to concerns it would bring higher taxes or legalised abortion.

"We have to think about how we can make this Europe a means to protect Europeans in their daily lives ... We must not be afraid of this word -- 'protection'," he said, adding that citizens wanted to be shielded from the risks of globalisation.

Sarkozy lobbied unsuccessfully at a summit of European leaders this month for a cap on value added tax (VAT) on petrol to cushion the blow of soaring oil prices that have sparked protests across the 27-nation bloc and elsewhere.