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 PARIS (AP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy is keeping his country's business elite waiting.
Sarkozy vowed to return Airbus, Europe's struggling planemaker, to its former glory, but other, less glamorous industrial dossiers are piling up on his desk.
How he handles them will be a litmus test of Sarkozy's proclaimed pro-market tendencies in a country suspicious of capitalism and with deep traditions of state involvement in the economy. The most prickly plans include privatizations of major French companies that could help finance Sarkozy's tax cuts and other reforms — and would almost certainly incite mass protests and strikes.
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