The election victory of Nicolas Sarkozy in France was greeted with cheering in Israel and concern among its neighbours that the new right-wing President could swing French Middle East policy away from its traditional support for the Arab nations.

In contrast to Jacques Chirac, who had chilly relations with Israel, Mr Sarkozy is an admirer of the Jewish state and has warm ties with the French Jewish community. His maternal grandfather was a Greek Jew from Salonika who migrated to France before the Second World War. As a sign of the favour that the new part-Jewish President enjoys, he won the votes of 91 per cent of the 7,000 French citizens living in Israel outside Jerusalem.

When Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, telephoned Mr Sarkozy after his election, the new President told him: “I am a friend of Israel, and Israel can always count on my friendship.” Binyamin Netanyahu, the chairman of the Likud party and a friend of Mr Sarkozy, called his victory great news. “He wants to help Israel achieve true peace, and he understands our security needs well,” he said.

Israel and its French supporters hope that Mr Sarkozy will adopt what they see as a more balanced policy, more in line with that of Britain and Germany than with the traditional “politique arabe de la France” of recent decades.

Mr Sarkozy’s pro-Israeli views have prompted a flurry of contacts between Arab capitals and Paris over the past week, with governments seeking a reassurance of continuity. President Mubarak of Egypt was so worried about a French shift that he sought a meeting to ask Mr Sarkozy about his “Israeli bias” when he came to Paris last month to bid farewell to Mr Chirac.

Mr Sarkozy’s pro-American views have added to concern that he would break with France’s traditionally independent policy in the region. Mohamed Salmawy, the editor of Egypt’s Al-Ahram Weekly, has said that it was vital for the peace of the planet that France remain a “counter to American hegemony”.

Mr Sarkozy has recently criticised US policy in the region, especially the war in Iraq which he opposed along with the rest of the French political world. And a realignment of French policy may be premature. While Mr Sarkozy sympathises with Israel and uses unusually blunt language on terrorism and the “oppression of Muslim women”, French interests mean that his presidency is unlikely to stray far from the path that President de Gaulle laid down in the 1960s.

One Arab leader — President Bashar Assad of Syria — even has good reason to be relieved at Mr Sarkozy’s arrival. The new French leader is unlikely to pursue President Chirac’s personal feud with Syria over the assassination of his close friend Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister. “Chirac was determined to isolate Assad,” a diplomat said. “Sarkozy will be tough, but it will not be personal.”

In contrast to Mr Chirac, Mr Sarkozy, 52, has little experience in foreign policy and he will be guided by advisers and diplomats who are steeped in France’s traditional leanings.

His positions on the Israeli-Palestinian question have stuck to the French balance between security for Israel and a stable Palestinian state. “I am obviously concerned about a balance on one side between the right of Israel to security and the recognition of its neighbours and on the other the right of the Palestinians to a state,” he said in the campaign. “I am deeply attached to this balance.” The Palestinians’ right to a “viable state” was essential, he added.

Mr Sarkozy has also backed away from his previous insistence that Hezbollah, the Lebanese party, is a terrorist organisation, a view held by Washington but not by the European Union. “I am not convinced that it is useful to discuss this in the context of Lebanon when it is necessary to seek peace,” he told The Jerusalem Post last month.

In his first meeting with a leader from the region, on May 11, Mr Sarkozy told Saad al-Hariri, head of the Lebanese al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc and the son of the assassinated former Prime Minister, that he wants excellent links with the Arab states and aims to maintain strong Lebanese-French ties. On Iran, Mr Sarkozy has taken a slightly tougher public position than Mr Chirac, calling President Ahmedinejad a “dangerous man” and promising to oppose Tehran’s military nuclear ambitions.

The pillar of Mr Sarkozy’s policy for the region is a scheme that he will launch for a Mediterranean Union. He wants this union to link Europe, Africa and the Middle East. “What was done for Europe 60 years ago, we will do today for a Mediterranean Union,” he said.

His idea is to start with a council of leaders of the nations that ring the Mediterranean — Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. The plan was welcomed in Israel, where it was seen as a chance to hold a dialogue with nations that refuse to establish relations with it.

Turkey, however, has objected strongly to the Union idea, seeing it as a ploy to put off Ankara’s entry to the EU. Hostility to Turkish accession to the EU is one of Mr Sarkozy’s most popular policy positions.

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