Can Nicolas Sarkozy Stage Another Comeback? Court Ruling Clears Way for Former French President to Reclaim His Throne

THE INDEPENDENT: Liberated by a ruling last week that spares him the humiliation of a trial for the alleged fleecing of the ailing nonagenarian billionairess Liliane Bettencourt, Nicolas Sarkozy has been "energised", say his friends. Thus reinvigorated, he intends to rise from the political grave next year and begin a three-year campaign to reclaim the Elysée Palace.

The former president hopes to jump back into the ring early next summer when he expects mainstream politicians of both left and right to have been discredited by a far right triumph in the European elections.

In recent months, he has carefully constructed an ambiguous status as a youthful – he is 58 – political retiree and the nation's not-quite-declared saviour-in-waiting. With the threat of a Bettencourt trial removed, some commentators suggest he may re-enter full-time politics before the New Year. » | John Lichfield | Paris | Sunday, October 13, 2013