Nicolas Sarkozy will be the first French president to address the annual dinner of French Jewry’s representative body.
Some 1,000 Jewish organizations will attend Wednesday’s CRIF dinner, a key political networking event that attracts senior lawmakers as well as business, diplomatic and social leaders, and media representatives.
Some CRIF members speculated that Sarkozy was appearing to show that France in his presidency is committed to a more balanced policy toward Israel after what critics say were decades of a sometimes negative government stance.
In the past, the prime minister has represented the French government at the dinner.
