President Sarkozy promised last night to lead France out of the economic slump while avoiding the mistakes of Britain, but admitted that he was taxed by the pressures of his job.

In a 90-minute interview on French television, Mr Sarkozy stuck to his argument that salvation in France lay in his €26 billion programme of investment in state infrastructure and not in boosting consumer spending with tax cuts, as in Britain.

“That will bring them nothing,” he said. “Consumption continues to decrease in Britain.”

Responding to discontent expressed in mass demonstrations last week, Mr Sarkozy said that he understood public discontent but would not be swayed from his plans for trimming Frances’s costly public sector and taxes on business.

“It’s normal that the French are worried. It’s a crisis the like of which the world has not seen for a century,” he said. “We have a lot of protests in France. If you have to stop every reform because of a protest, then you’d be be better off not having any reforms.”

“Naturally, I will continue to reform the country. This is the mandate I received, it is my duty,” Mr Sarkozy said. “It is the only way for France to emerge from the crisis stronger than going into it.

The French President revealed he was not certain he would seek re-election in 2012. Asked why, he explained: “Because my job is very difficult. It needs a lot of energy, a lot of strength to do it and I have put all my strength into doing it as well as possible.”

“There are still three-and-a-half years,” he added. “I give no undertaking, in one direction or the other. You run for a second term if you have the strength to chase another dream and people have confidence in you. It would be shocking if I had been able to make such an important decision less than half-way into my first term.”

Mr Sarkozy refused to follow President Obama in setting a ceiling for the salaries of bankers whose firms had been bailed out by the government. He said that successful managers deserved their pay but that he was shocked by the system of pay enjoyed by financial traders.

“That’s what you have to forbid,” he said. France would review its relations with neighbouring financial havens such as Luxembourg, Andorra and Monaco, he added.

Mr Sarkozy also confirmed that he would seek to put pressure on French car makers to prevent them selling cars in France made by cheaper factories abroad.

The opposition Socialist party characterised Mr Sarkozy’s television appearance from the Elysée Palace as a show of impotence. “He was incoherent, hesitant and showed that he does not understand the crisis,” said Benoit Hamon, spokesman for the Socialists.

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