Chirac unleashes his fury against Sarkozy.
Former French president breaks his silence and makes scathing revelations against his successor in autobiography.
Roberta Namour, 247 correspondent in Paris - "Nervous, impetuous, overflowing with ambition, doubting nothing and least of all himself." After 12 years of discretion, former French President Jacques Chirac breaks his silence and harshly criticizes his successor Nicolas Sarkozy in the second volume of his autobiography. Dedicated to his two terms at the Élysée Palace, the former head of state describes in his book, without restraint, what he thinks of the current president, with whom he spent a good part of his political life.
The first pages of his book are dedicated to the suspicion that Nicolas Sarkozy is behind the denunciation of the overvalued sale of land belonging to his wife Bernadette's family in 1995 – three months before the presidential election. And after that, why wasn't Nicolas Sarkozy chosen as prime minister in 2002 and 2004? “I don't feel any personal antipathy towards him, quite the contrary, but we don't agree on the essentials,” said Chirac. “He is an Atlanticist (according to American politics) and I am not. He is much more liberal than I am on economic matters. He is in favor of affirmative action and I am radically against it. So, this couldn't work,” he concluded.
Jacques Chirac also cites several conflictive episodes between him and Nicolas Sarkozy when he was Sarkozy's interior minister. "His presidential ambitions became clear as soon as he arrived at Place Beauvau. I immediately refused to engage in the power struggle he was trying to establish between us, considering that this could be destructive to our institutions," he said.
The final chapter of this discord, which further highlights the differences between the two, was the moment experienced on the evening of May 6, 2007. The former head of state was attending the inauguration ceremony of the new president of the Fifth Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, alongside his wife Bernadette, his grandson Martin, and some political partners. “We listened very attentively to every phrase, every word spoken, secretly waiting for the moment when he would undoubtedly mention the name of the one who was about to succeed him, or even thank them for the support received. But that moment never came. For my part, I refrain from expressing any reaction. But deep down, it affected me.”