It’s hard to know what to make of Nicolas Sarkozy de Nagy-Bocsa. The diminutive French President, with his exotic Hungarian/Greek-Jewish/French background and Italian ex-model wife, presents himself as a French nationalist, a committed European and affectionately pro-American.

What has come across more is his obvious Napoleon complex. A small man, just 5ft 5ins tall, he likes to dominate those around him, lashing out at those who do not give in to him or immediately acknowledge his leadership.

As President of France, he wields enormous political power in his own country and enjoys considerable influence across Europe. Yet, in spite of his pre-election promise to revolutionise French working practises, bringing them into line with those of Britain and the United States, he has so far achieved precisely nothing.

Instead, it is his private life that has attracted most interest. His first wife, Marie Dominique, was a Corsican, whose first language was a dialect of Italian. His second wife, Cécilia, was half-Russian and a quarter Spanish. His current wife, Carla Bruni, whom he married within weeks of his divorce from Cécilia, was born in Turin and educated in Switzerland.

For a French national leader, Sarkozy has shown no inclination to immerse himself in French identity. While insulting Arab immigrants and dismissing Africans as “outside of history,” he stands aloof — in attitude, if not in altitude — from his fellow countrymen and women, having apparently decided that the best way to govern France is from the outside in.

There is some truth in this. There is an insularity about the French that is frequently unattractive — a bit like the Irish on a bad night. But it is difficult not to see the president (who is also ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra) as a man so prickly about his background that he doesn’t quite know where he belongs or how to fit in.

Mrs Thatcher, as a woman from a provincial middle class background, faced much the same problem with the Tory Party. She solved it by taking conservatism by the scruff of its neck and reconforming it in her own image. For Sarko to do this, he would have to convince the great mass of the French that being French is not an accomplishment in itself — a task that is surely beyond him, just as it was, famously, beyond De Gaulle to earn the approval of a country that makes 246 types of cheese

Three years ago, as he campaigned for the Elysée, Sarkozy promised France five years of blood, sweat and tears. A vote for him, he warned, was a vote for upheaval.

Those who were idle and lived off the state would be forced either into insolvency or a dramatic change of direction. Taxes would plummet; the 35-hour week would vanish; jobs would be created by the thousands as employers were freed of the obligation to cosset their workers no matter the fatuity of their function. None of the above has come to pass. France has continued much as before. Economically, the President’s main reform thus far has been to cut taxes for the rich and reduce the level of inheritance tax. Such upheaval as has occurred has been mainly in the field of foreign policy.

As the rest of the world has looked to Barack Obama as the likely agent of America’s salvation, Sarkozy has slithered in beside George Bush, supporting him over Israel and the Palestinians, even offering words of consolation over the continuing fiasco in Iraq.

This week, as President of the European Council, Sarko was in Dublin, seeking to persuade the Irish to somehow reverse their ‘no’ vote on the European Treaty. He knows that millions of French voters agree with the Irish and are deeply concerned about the direction in which the European Union is going. But that has done nothing to curb his indignation.

What he wanted was for Taoiseach Brian Cowen to tell him, face á face, that Ireland had learned its lesson and was now ready to toe the EU party line, thus enabling Sarkozy to claim a major diplomatic triumph.

Cowen, of course, told him no such thing and the French leader, as he got back into his aircraft, must surely have been tempted to shake the dust of Ireland from his sandals.

I say all of the above with some sadness, for I confess that I bought into the Sarkozy myth and expected much from his presidency. France is a great nation with many admirable qualities. But it desperately needs a kick up the backside.

If Nicolas Sarkozy, with his Napoleon complex, is not the man to do it, then who is?

But perhaps we should be grateful for small mercies. At least the man knows how to put words together and he looks good on the stump.

He has also offered Carla Bruni a new lease of life and given men under 5ft 6ins a fresh spring in their step.

Yes, but is it enough?