News that Cecilia Sarkozy is divorcing her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, is all over the U.S. press. But there is another woman in the Sarkozy constellation who matters more than Cecilia. She is Christine Lagarde, the 51-year- old French finance minister.  At a recent meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations, Lagarde outlined her plan to cut marginal taxes on labor, lower the tax rate on investors by boosting research tax credits, lower the share of citizens' total income that can go to income taxes to 50 percent or less, and end a requirement that all patents be translated into French. Amity Shales writes that Lagarde is the one most likely to seduce investors away from the U.S. and to France.

Watch French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde discuss her efforts to revitalize the French economy and revive Paris as a financial center.

Christine Lagarde discusses French economic policy and its implications.

Speaking at CFR, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde discusses her efforts to revitalize the French economy and revive Paris as a financial center.

Listen to French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde discusses her efforts to revitalize the French economy and revive Paris as a financial center.

Watch Bernard Kouchner, France's minister of foreign and European affairs, discuss the situation in the Middle East and the merits of multilateral diplomacy in solving global conflicts.

French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Bernard Kouchner speaks about the foreign policy challenges of the United States and Europe.

Listen to Bernard Kouchner, France's minister of foreign and European affairs, discuss the situation in the Middle East and the merits of multilateral diplomacy in solving global conflicts.

Video highlights of a CFR meeting with Bernard Kouchner, France's foreign minister.

Philip Gordon’s article discusses France’s new foreign policy under the pro-American President Nicolas Sarkozy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has wowed U.S. conservatives in his first months, but recent moves with Libya and on European finances could sour the affair.

New French President Nicolas Sarkozy hopes his party's striking victory in the first round of parliamentary elections on Sunday will provide a strong mandate to govern and seal his ideological win over the French socialism.

Report from the Washington Institute that considers the possibility that the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as president of France may usher in a less accommodative EU policy towards Hezbollah. The report says that Sarkozy appears to see Hezbollah in a different light than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac. In a September 2006 closed-door session with Jewish leaders in the United States, for example, Sarkozy reportedly referred to Hezbollah as a "terrorist organization"—a sentiment unlikely to be stated by Chirac. During last summer's war between Hezbollah and Israel, Sarkozy defendedIsrael's right to defend itself against an organization he described as the "one aggressor" in the conflict. He also stated that France should have committed troops to Lebanon more quickly during the war.

Nicolas Sarkozy’s election as France’s new president prompted talk of a golden age in U.S.-French relations, but experts advise caution.

Serge Schmemann of the International Herald Tribune says Nicolas Sarkozy’s triumph in the French presidential elections represents “a mandate for change.”

CFR's Célia Belin discusses the recent French presidential debate and the challenges, persistent unemployment and security issues, facing the candidates.

The French presidential race between socialist Segolene Royal and conservative Nicolas Sarkozy is so close that a televised debate could be the deciding factor.

A deeply divided electorate in France on Sunday set up a classic second- round battle between socialist Segolene Royal and interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

Charles A. Kupchan, CFR’s top Europe expert, says Nicolas Sarkozy “is in pretty good shape” for the presidential runoff and it remains to be seen if Royal can cut substantially into the centrist vote to emerge victorious.