Guillaume Sarkozy

Guillaume Georges Didier Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (born June 18, 1951, in Paris, 17th arrondissement), simply known as Guillaume Sarkozy, is a French textile entrepreneur and vice-president of the MEDEF, the French union of employers. Guillaume Sarkozy is the older brother of French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

He was enrolled in the private Catholic middle and high school "Cours Saint-Louis de Monceau", and then in the public "Lycée" (High School) "Janson-de-Sailly", both located in Paris. He holds an engineering degree from the "École spéciale des travaux publics" (ESTP) of Paris.

Guillaume Sarkozy started his career working on assignments at the Directorate (Office) of Public Safety ("direction de la sécurité civile") inside the Ministry of Interior (1974-1976). He then joined IBM France where he was a sales engineer (1976-1979).

In 1979 he became COO of Tissage de Picardie and has been its president and CEO since 1981. He also became CEO of Tissage Rinet (1985) and Velveterie (1990), which he merged with Tissage de Picardie. He is now the owner of the company, having bought it from the family of his first wife. Tissage de Picardie is one of the world leaders in upholstery fabrics. Located in the Somme "département", it employs around 120 people, and exports about 65% of its production. It's declared bankrupt on the 22sd of September 2005.

Guillaume Sarkozy entered the CNPF, later renamed MEDEF, where he was the chairman of the Committee on Social Welfare ("commission de la protection sociale"). He is now the vice-president of the MEDEF (since 2000), and has also been the chairman of the French Union of Textile Industries ("Union des industries textiles", or UIT) since 2000.

Guillaume Sarkozy is an active member of the MEDEF, who advocates a liberalisation of the French economy. He is often seen as the man behind the bold reforms agenda pushed forward by the MEDEF since the late 1990s. Allegedly, he was denied a more outspoken profile due to the political career of his brother. The close association of Nicolas Sarkozy, a presidential candidate in the 2007 elections, with a prominent executive of the foremost employer's union would make him the target of accusations of bias in favor of big business, which would run contrary to the ideal idea of the French presidency free from the influence of lobbies; furthermore, Guillaume Sarkozy's liberal positions may reinforce the idea that his brother is an ideological "ultra-liberal", while Nicolas Sarkozy seeks an image of pragmatism. It is said that this is the reason why he was prevented from running for the presidency of the MEDEF in 2005. He will remain vice-president only, but he is supporting the election of Francis Mer, the former French Finance Minister, in what has been dubbed the "Mer-Sarkozy ticket". However, in the end, Laurence Parisot was elected.