On the night of his election victory last month, Nicolas Sarkozy declared that France was back in Europe. On the eve of the G8 summit, the newly installed president’s message is that France is back in the world.

In an informal meeting with journalists, which he insisted should not be recorded, Mr Sarkozy outlined his vision of France’s distinctive role in the world and his own – sometimes tentative – solutions to the great challenges of the day. His tour d’horizon covered climate change, the relaunch of the European Union, the urgent need for a “frank” discussion with Russia and the duty to humanise globalisation.