Nicolas Sarkozy left France yesterday for a short break on a private yacht in Malta. (Earlier claims that he had gone to a monastery proved to be false.) "He startled passport control officials when he passed through normal channels at the airport," the Guardian says. "Witnesses said he winked at other passengers."
The three-day holiday will be the last breathing space France's president-elect enjoys for a while. British commentators have plenty of urgent advice for him.
For the Times, he has the potential to "rejuvenate the west as an alliance of democracies", no less. The paper approves of his plans for an EU constitution ("two or three pages, no big thing, just enough to make Europe work", reportedly) and his determination not to put the new text to a referendum. David Blunkett tells the paper he worked with Mr Sarkozy during the Sangatte refugee camp crisis, and that he is "a man we can do business with". Does Mr Blunkett sniff a vacancy at the newly divided Home Office?
Gideon Rachman of the FT predicts that Mr Sarkozy will not have it easy - and he will find it much harder than Margaret Thatcher did to push through market and union reforms. "First, the sense of national decline was much more pervasive in Britain in 1979 than in modern France," he writes. Lady Thatcher also waited a few years before taking on the miners and had the Falklands victory to embolden her. And thirdly, just two years ago only 34% of the French said they were "in favour" of the market economy, compared with two-thirds of Britons. "He ... has to deal with a population brought up to regard street protests as an honoured part of the national heritage."
The paper says Francois Fillon, a close adviser of Mr Sarkozy and perceived as both fairly moderate and the "least detested" option, will be the new PM. It has the tip on good authority: when Tony Blair called to congratulate him on Sunday, Mr Sarkozy apparently passed the mobile to Mr Fillon, asking, "Why don't you say a few words to the next prime minister of France?" The Herald Tribune points out that choosing an ally as his PM will mean Mr Sarkozy cannot sack him easily when times are hard, as previous French presidents were wont to do.
The IHT says Washington is pleased with the result. "Nicolas Sarkozy is George Bush's kind of guy - brash, tough-talking and proud of it. Sarkozy's vow to rid the troubled suburbs of France of delinquent youths - 'thugs', he has called them - is the French equivalent of Bush's vow to 'Bring 'em on.'
"Both are teetotallers. Both are disciplined exercisers - Sarkozy jogs but, like Bush, is also an avid bike rider."
Segolene Royal, by contrast, enjoys swimming, yachting and the occasional gentle walk, none of which are popular at the presidential ranch in Texas. Mr Bush didn't want a pool, but his daughters insisted.
* This is an edited extract from the Wrap, our digest of the daily papers. Sample tomorrow's edition for free.
