Nicholas Sarkozy already faces a series of tough decisions that could change the French industrial landscape soon after his rise to power.

One of the most important files on Mr Sarkozy’s desk will be the planned €80 billion (£54.6 billion) merger between the state-owned Gaz de France and Suez, the Franco-Belgian utility. Mr Sarkozy gave the politically controversial tie-up lukewarm backing when it was proposed by Dominique de Villepin, the outgoing Prime Minister, but has offered little indication of his intentions now that he will be in charge.

Proceeding with the merger would involve privatising the gas supplier and risking union wrath. Ditching it would leave Suez open to hostile bids and GdF without an alternative strategy. Even his closest aides say that they have no idea which way he will lean.

Mr Sarkozy has been more forthright about his vision for the changes planned at EADS, Airbus’s parent company, in which the French State holds a 15 per cent stake.

He has suggested that he wants to EADS to shelve the 10,000 job cuts envisaged under its restructuring plan and to rewrite the shareholder pact that gives French and German representatives equal weight on the board.

Yet there is no guarantee that Mr Sarkozy will translate words into deeds. Sources at the company believe that the restructuring plan will be implemented with only minor changes, despite his opposition, which they describe as largely electoral. They say that Mr Sarkozy risks losing all influence over EADS if he unravels the shareholder pact.

The third urgent industrial question concerns Areva, the state-owned nuclear power station builder. Mr Sarkozy is rumoured to want privatise the group, with Bouygues, the construction giant, taking a stake as part of a three-way link with Alstom, the engineering company.

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