Breaking the impasse requires restoring political legitimacy by electing a president who, having promised reform, gains a mandate to deliver it. Both leading contenders in the 2007 presidential election, Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy, share relative youth (compared to the geriatrics of recent decades) and have their fingers on the pulse of public opinion.
要打破这样的僵局就必须选出承诺改革、并获得实施改革的权力的总统，从而恢复政治合法性。2007年总统大选的两位主要竞争对手塞格莱娜·罗亚尔和尼古拉·萨尔科齐都比较年轻（与最近数十年来的老人相比），并且都对舆论的脉搏有一定的把握。