Socialists say Sarkozy has "small man syndrome"

PARIS (Reuters) - France's Socialist party on Friday accused Nicolas Sarkozy of suffering from "small man syndrome," saying this explained why the shorter-than-average president had proclaimed his reforms the biggest in decades.

The Socialists, who are still trying to recover from their double defeat in presidential and parliamentary elections earlier this year, have sharply criticized pension, social and civil service reforms Sarkozy announced this week.

Referring to Sarkozy's comments on Thursday that he was preparing "the biggest reform of the social model since the Liberation (of France)," Socialist spokesman Benoit Hamon said:

"In psychoanalysis, this is what you call the syndrome of the small man who considers that everything he does is bigger than anything that has ever happened," he told reporters.

"With Nicolas Sarkozy, all he does, all he touches, he considers it to be the greatest. In reality, we have never witnessed such a step backwards since the Liberation. On the social issue, as well as on immigration," Hamon said.

French media say Sarkozy is around 1.65 meters tall (5 feet 5 inches), some 20 centimeters shorter than his predecessor Jacques Chirac.

He wears shoes with particularly high heels, and popular satirical television show Les Guignols de l'Info has frequently