Sarkozy launches presidential election campaign

President Nicolas Sarkozy formally declared his candidacy for a second term on Wednesday seeking to overturn a wide poll lag with promises to get the unemployed back to work and use referendums to consult the French people on reforms.

The centre-right president, who trails Socialist challenger Francois Hollande in opinion polls, ended weeks of speculation over the timing of his bid by saying that like a sea captain in a storm, he could not "abandon my post."

"Yes I am a candidate for the presidential election," he told TF1 channel's evening news programme, saying a "strong France" would protect people from global economic turmoil.

Dozens of polls show Hollande would beat Sarkozy by up to 15 points in a May 6 runoff, but the president's allies hope his dynamic campaigning style will allow him to narrow the gap before a April 22 first round.

Despite a disapproval rating of 68 percent, Sarkozy hopes to present himself as an experienced leader who can drag France out of an economic slump and overcome the euro zone crisis.

"If you want to make me say I haven't achieved everything, that is for sure. I don't know anyone who has succeeded in everything," Sarkozy said. It was the nearest he came to apologising for the unfulfilled promises of his five-year term.

"What sort of campaign will I run? I will try to tell the truth. To ask the right questions and to offer strong ideas and say to the French 'choose now'."

With unemployment stuck at a 12-year high of 9.3 percent and a stream of news about companies closing or relocating production abroad, Sarkozy -- who took office in 2007 pledging a return to full employment -- said he would focus on retraining the unemployed to get them back to work.

After being accused of not listening to popular discontent over pension reforms and tax measures during his five years in power, Sarkozy pledged to consult voters on his reform programme if re-elected.

"The central idea of my programme is to give power back to the French people via the referendum," Sarkozy said.

Sarkozy said economic data released on Wednesday showed his reforms were starting to work.

Preliminary data from the INSEE statistics office showed that French gross domestic product (GDP) eked out 0.2 percent growth in the fourth quarter.

It was the first time since the beginning of 2009 that French quarterly growth outperformed neighbouring Germany, which Sarkozy has repeatedly held up as the economic model to follow.