Sarkozy to fulfil Napoleon deal, push Paris to sea

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Nicolas Sarkozy has taken it upon himself to fulfil a Napoleonic ideal — the French President wants to push Paris to the sea stretching 100 miles to Le Havre, a city in northern France.
In a report that appeared last week Jacques Attali, a presidential adviser, said landlocked Paris could soon become an insignificant “museum city” unless it tied its future to Le Havre, 100 miles to the northwest in Normandy at the mouth of the River Seine.
The report entitled “Paris and the Sea” recommends the construction of a port called “Paris Normandy” at Le Havre. This port could emerge as a leading hub of international maritime commerce as also a cultural capital and gateway to Paris.
Comparing the plan for Le Havre to the transformation of Liverpool, Britain, Mr Attali asked “Sarko” not to hold back his vision of revitalising the capital as a maritime metropolis due to political or economic constraints during difficult economic times. Mr Attali believes Paris urgently needs a Port to come with cities like London and New York. Ever since Mr Sarkozy went public with his dream of building a bigger, better Paris the entire French nation has been debating about how to go about it. Architects from all over the world were asked for suggestions. But a proposal by Antoine Grumbach, the French architect, to develop a “maritime metropolis” stretching up to Le Havre inflamed Mr Sarkozy’s imagination, reports the Times.
As Mr Sarkozy visited the port in summer 2009, he recalled a phrase attributed to Napoleon: “Paris, Rouen, Le Havre, a single city with the Seine as the main street”. “It is for me a major project and it is non-negotiable,” he added.