SPAIN: Rightist French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy visits Madrid

French Interior Minister and presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has met with Spanish officials and paid tribute to the victims of the March 11, 2004 bombings in Madrid. Sarkozy decided to take a tour along Madrid's Paseo de la Castellana before participating in a political rally with French residents in Spain expected for later in the day. French conservative presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Madrid on Tuesday (February 27) for a one-day visit which included meetings with Spanish officials, members of the opposition party and a political rally with French residents in Spain. During his visit to the Presidential Palace of La Moncloa, Sarkozy and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero discussed immigration issues. Recent developments with the Basque separatist group ETA were also in the agenda. Later in the day, Sarkozy met with Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba after which he decided to take an unexpected walk along Madrid's Paseo de la Castellana. People sitting at park benches and cafes recognised him. "I personally don't like him as I am leftist," a woman said to Reuters. "It is indifferent to me," said the man sitting next to her. Sarkozy was later expected to meet with the leader of Spain's Conservative Popular Party Mariano Rajoy and to attend political rally with French residents in Spain. A recent poll carried out for French newspaper Journal du Dimanche put Sarkozy and Socialist candidate Segolene Royal-- the two main candidates-- level-pegging on 28 percent for the first round of presidential elections on April 22.

ITN Source | February 28, 2007

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