A Former French President Gives a Voice to Obstinate Russian Sympathies

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Remarks by Nicolas Sarkozy have raised fears that Europe’s pro-Putin chorus may grow louder as Ukraine’s plodding counteroffensive puts pressure on Western resolve.

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy of France arriving for a meeting on the Russian attack of Ukraine in Paris in February 2022. | Ludovic Marin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
PARIS — Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, was once known as “Sarko the American” for his love of free markets, freewheeling debate and Elvis. Of late, however, he has appeared more like “Sarko the Russian,” even as President Vladimir V. Putin’s ruthlessness appears more evident than ever.

In interviews coinciding with the publication of a memoir, Mr. Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, said that reversing Russia’s annexation of Crimea was “illusory,” ruled out Ukraine joining the European Union or NATO because it must remain “neutral,” and insisted that Russia and France “need each other.”

“People tell me Vladimir Putin isn’t the same man that I met. I don’t find that convincing. I’ve had tens of conversations with him. He is not irrational,” he told Le Figaro. “European interests aren’t aligned with American interests this time,” he added.

His statements, to the newspaper as well as the TF1 television network, were unusual for a former president in that they are profoundly at odds with official French policy. They provoked outrage from the Ukrainian ambassador to France and condemnation from several French politicians, including President Emmanuel Macron. » | Roger Cohen | Sunday, August 27, 2023

Pour Sarkozy, l'affaire des sous-marins est une «trahison» des États-Unis

Nicolas Sarkozy en dédicace dans une librairie toulonnaise. CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP
LE FIGARO : L'ancien chef de l'État dédicaçait son dernier livre, Promenades, dans une librairie toulonnaise. Interrogé par la presse, il a commenté plusieurs sujets chauds de l'actualité internationale.

L'ex-président de la république Nicolas Sarkozy a estimé samedi à Toulon que l'affaire du contrat des sous-marins perdu par la France au profit des États-Unis n'était «pas seulement une maladresse», comme l'a reconnu le président américain Joe Biden, mais «une forme de trahison». «On ne traite pas ses alliés, ses amis comme on a été traité. Ce n'est pas possible, ce n'est pas conforme à l'intérêt stratégique de nos deux nations», a réagi l'ancien chef de l'État interrogé par la presse sur cette affaire en marge d'une séance de dédicace de son dernier livre. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | samedi 30 octobre 2021

Ex-President Sarkozy Sentenced to Jail for Campaign Spending Violations

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Nicolas Sarkozy was convicted of illegally financing his 2012 presidential bid by exceeding France’s strict electoral rules. He said he would appeal.

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy of France on Wednesday in Madrid. | Rodrigo Jimenez/EPA, via Shutterstock
PARIS — A French court on Thursday sentenced Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president, to a year in jail for illegally financing his failed 2012 re-election campaign by wildly exceeding France’s strict electoral spending limits.

Mr. Sarkozy, 66, was president from 2007 to 2012. Though he is no longer active in politics and continues to be dogged by multiple legal entanglements, he is still an influential voice on the French right. Shortly after the verdict, his lawyer announced that Mr. Sarkozy would appeal the conviction.

It is the second time that Mr. Sarkozy has been sentenced to prison. In March, he became the first former president in France’s recent history to be sentenced to actual jail time after he was convicted on charges of corruption and influence peddling for trying to illegally obtain information from a judge on a legal case against him.

Mr. Sarkozy has appealed that conviction, which put the sentence on hold. Still, it made him only the second former president in France’s modern history to be convicted of a crime — Jacques Chirac was found guilty in 2011 of embezzling and misusing public funds when he was mayor of Paris.

The verdict against Mr. Sarkozy on Thursday came after a yearslong investigation and a trial in May and June, both of which focused on his 2012 re-election campaign and on France’s stringent electoral rules. » | Aurelien Breeden | Thursday, September 30, 2021

Affaire Bygmalion : Nicolas Sarkozy condamné à un an de prison ferme : Dans cette affaire liée à la campagne présidentielle de 2012, le parquet avait requis un an de prison, dont six mois avec sursis. L'ancien chef de l'État va faire appel. »

Frankreichs früherer Präsident Sarkozy zu einem Jahr Haft verurteilt: Nicolas Sarkozys Wahlkampf habe 2012 doppelt so viel gekostet wie erlaubt, sagen die Richter. Er hätte das besser überwachen müssen. Nun muss er ein Jahr in elektronisch überwachten Hausarrest. »

Affaire Bygmalion : qui a été condamné et pourquoi ? : Nicolas Sarkozy a été condamné à un an de prison pour financement illégal de sa campagne présidentielle de 2012. Au centre de l’affaire : un vaste système de fausses factures. »

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy Gives His Backing to François Fillon

Sarkozy Advises Fillon: 'Don't Isolate Yourself'

French Conservatives Battle in TV Debate | DW News

France’s center-right Les Républicains party has begun the process of choosing a presidential candidate to run in this spring’s election. On Thursday, seven members of the party sparred in a live TV debate.

Le Pen and the Rise of the Far-right in France - BBC Newsnight

Marine Le Pen and her far-right Front National are expected to do well in upcoming elections in France. What does the rise of the far right mean for French politics? And what is her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, doing now? Gabriel Gatehouse reports.

Sarkozy Interview "Burkini Is Provocation"

Sarkozy Launches 2017 Presidential Campaign

Burkini Must Be Banned, Says Nicolas Sarkozy As He Launches Presidential Election Campaign

THE TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, called for a full burkini ban in France on Thursday night as he warned that immigrants, minorities and the Left were threatening to destroy French identity.

In the first big speech of his campaign to win back the office he lost in 2012, Mr Sarkozy stole many ideas of the far-Right Front National, promising to reclaim France “for the French”.

“I refuse to let the burkini impose itself at French beaches and swimming pools ... there must be a law to ban it throughout the Republic’s territory,” he said to thunderous applause during a speech in Provence, a stronghold of the Front National. » | Peter Foster, Europe Editor and James Rothwell | Thursday, August 25, 2016

France: Sarkozy Urges 'Ruthless' French Response to Saint-Etienne du Rouvray Attack

France: Sarkozy Quits as Les Républicains Head, Setting Up Presidential Bid

Former president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, told the Les Republicains party's National Council of his plans to quit as head of the organisation, setting up a potential bid for the presidency, in Paris on Saturday.

France: 'We Are At War' - Sarkozy

Former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy said that "the terrorists have declared war on France" during a press conference in Paris, Saturday, following Friday night's attacks across the French capital which left at last 127 dead and 200 injured.

François Fillon évoque un "ressentiment personnel" envers Nicolas Sarkozy

Dans son livre "Faire", l'ancien Premiere ministre qualifie
Nicolas Sarkozy de "plébéien teigneux" qui "répugnait
de ne pas aimé".

L’EXPRESS: L'ancien Premier ministre était interrogé ce dimanche sur son livre "Faire" dans lequel il qualifie Nicolas Sarkozy de "plébéien teigneux". Dans un lapsus, il a reconnu un "ressentiment personnel" à l'égard de l'ex-président.

François Fillon a du mal à cacher sa rancoeur envers Nicolas Sarkozy. Dans son livre Faire, l'ancien Premier ministre dresse un portrait sévère de l'ex-président, qu'il dépeint en "plébéien teigneux" qui "répugnait de ne pas être aimé".

Interrogé ce dimanche sur son ouvrage lors du "Grand Rendez-vous" iTÉLÉ-Le Monde-Europe 1, le député de Paris a commis un savoureux lapsus en expliquant sa démarche. "J'ai écrit ce livre car je voulais dire des choses que je ressens, je voulais exprimer des émotions, je voulais exprimer mon ressentiment personnel. (voir vidéo, à partir de 5min30). » | Par LEXPRESS.fr avec AFP | dimanche 20 septembre 2015

Sarkozy Panned for Holding ‘Question of Islam’ Meet

In first action, former French president’s new center-right party debate place of Islam in France, to dismay of religious groups

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL: Nicolas Sarkozy’s right-wing opposition party held an internal meeting Thursday on the “question of Islam” in France, drawing criticism from Muslim groups and some members of the party for “stigmatizing” the religion.

The former French president’s party, recently rebranded “The Republicans,” debated “the place of religion” in secular France and more specifically “Islam in France.”

France is home to Europe’s largest Muslim community and also the continent’s biggest Jewish community but is officially secular.

One month after the January attacks in Paris that killed 17, Sarkozy said: “The question is not to know what the Republic can do for Islam, but what Islam can do to become the Islam of France.” » | AFP | Thursday, June 04, 2015

Sarkozy veut reconquérir la France "centimètre par centimètre"

LE POINT: "Le temps de la primaire n'est pas venu", a lancé le président des Républicains lors d'un meeting de soutien à Manuel Aeschlimann à Asnières-sur-Seine.

Nicolas Sarkozy, président des Républicains, a affirmé mercredi à Asnières-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine) qu'il voulait reconquérir la France "centimètre par centimètre", parce que c'est ce qui va permettre à sa famille politique "non seulement de gagner en 2017 mais de mettre en oeuvre" sa politique. "Sur les divisions, il n'y aura que la défaite, sur l'Union, tout devient possible", a lancé Nicolas Sarkozy devant près de 1 500 personnes, lors d'un meeting de soutien à Manuel Aeschlimann, qui tente les 14 et 21 juin de regagner la mairie d'Asnières, qu'il avait conquise avec seulement 70 voix sur son adversaire socialiste en 2014. Le Conseil d'État avait invalidé cette élection en raison de "pressions" à voter UMP aux abords de plusieurs bureaux de vote, sans toutefois établir l'implication de Manuel Aeschlimann. » | Source AFP | mercredi 03 juin 2015

Nicolas Sarkozy's #NSDIRECT Twitter Q&A Backfires Wildly

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy's bid to harness the power of Twitter backfires when his #NSDIRECT account is flooded with spoofs and a call by a fellow Right-wing mayor to ban Islam in France

Nicolas Sarkozy’s bid to engage with public via a Twitter chat backfired wildly on Friday after his account flooded with trolls and a Right-wing mayor dropped an unwanted bombshell by calling for Islam to be outlawed in France[.]

The communications team of France’s former president and current leader of the centre-Right UMP opposition thought it would a good idea to spruce up his image by asking the public to pose questions via Twitter, ahead of a key party conference on May 30.

However, it appears they got more than they bargained for when the #NSDIRECT hashtag - where Twitter users were told to pose their questions - was inundated with tens of thousands of spoof questions, jokes and cartoons - many of them unflattering to say the least. » | Henry Samuel | Friday, May 15, 2015

« Les terroristes voulaient nous empêcher de vivre, les Français leur ont répondu par le refus de la peur », a déclaré Nicolas Sarkozy samedi

LES ECHOS.fr: Sarkozy dénonce le «fanatisme de l’islam radical» » | Source: AFP | samedi 17 janvier 2015

Ermittlungen wegen Bestechung: Franzosen lehnen Rückkehr Sarkozys in die Politik ab

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Der Bestechungsverdacht gegen Nicolas Sarkozy wiegt schwer: Laut einer Umfrage lehnt eine große Mehrheit der Franzosen ein Comeback des Ex-Präsidenten in die Politik ab. Die Sozialisten werfen ihm vor, die Regierung zu beleidigen.

Paris - Nicolas Sarkozy wollte sich eine Rückkehr in die Politik offenhalten, im August oder September sollte es eine Entscheidung geben. Nun haben die Wähler ihre Meinung kundgetan: Fast zwei Drittel der Franzosen lehnen eine Rückkehr des früheren Präsidenten Nicolas Sarkozy ins politische Geschäft ab. » | kes/dpa | Donnerstag, 03. Juli 2014

Nicolas Sarkozy: Allegations against Me are Grotesque, and the Judges Are Biased

Nicolas Sarkozy, centre, is brought in by police for questioning
on Tuesday by a judge investigating allegations of corruption.

THE GUARDIAN: Former French president defends himself after being put under formal investigation for alleged corruption case

To the French right it was political persecution and a plot to undermine Nicolas Sarkozy's eventual return to power. To the left it was the country's justice system doing its job and showing that no man – not even a powerful former president – is above the law.

But on Wednesday night it was Sarkozy's turn to speak after a day in which he was put under formal investigation for allegations of corruption, trafficking influence and receiving information violating professional secrecy.

The move came more than 15 hours after he was first summoned to a police station on the outskirts of Paris and told he was being held in custody – a first for a former president in modern France.

Three others, Sarkozy's lawyer Thierry Herzog and two magistrates, have also been put under investigation in the case. All deny any wrongdoing.

On Wednesday night, Sarkozy appeared on television for the first time since leaving the Elysée Palace in 2012 to claim the justice system was being used as a "political instrument" against him and to lash out at the magistrates and France's Socialist government.

"In our country, the country of human rights and the right of law, there are things that are being organised … everything is being done to give an image of me that is not the truth. To all those watching and listening, I want to say that I have never betrayed their confidence. I have never committed an act against republican principles or the law," he said.

Wearing a sombre suit and tie, the former president looked tanned and clean-shaven – recent photos showed him with fashionable stubble – and came out fighting, describing the accusations as "grotesque", and accusing the judges of being politically biased and determined to humiliate and destroy him. » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Wednesday, July 02, 2014