He's back ... in bookstores. A year after his bestseller Passions, Nicolas Sarkozy returns to the forefront this Friday with a new book, Le Temps des tempêtes. The former president traces his first two years at the head of the country, mixing history and its history. Great Voice of Europe 1, Catherine Nay deciphers the content of this 523-page book, written during confinement, eight hours a day, from 6.30 am in the morning.
What do you remember from the book?
"This is the story of a president who admits, he who has always dreamed of the Elysee, the shock felt the evening of his election. It is there that he realizes, he said, to be now the only one to make and assume the final decision. But Nicolas Sarkozy also evokes the gravity and the loneliness which fall on him. He tells his first two presidential years of a great political and emotional density. The events with which he was confronted: the unprecedented financial crisis, the crisis between Georgia and Russia, the release of hostages - like Ingrid Bétancourt - and, to inaugurate his five-year term, the marital crisis with his wife Cécilia, his departure, then divorce. quite smooth on this part, he still reveals that he has 'drooled' a lot with her.
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Combining his personal story with his story, he also draws portraits of people with whom he has worked: Angela Merkel, George Bush - of whom he paints a more flattering portrait than one imagines and which he ultimately preferred to Obama. -, Vladimir Poutine, Prince Charles, the Queen of England ... But also French politicians whom he does not like at all like Jean-Louis Debré, François Bayrou, Philippe de Villiers, Laurent Fabius, Dominique Strauss -Kahn and Alain Juppé.
Nicolas Sarkozy wrote this book during confinement, is he talking about the Covid?
Yes, and he sees this crisis as a formidable indicator of the usefulness of politics. Because in a democracy, the decision maker must always be the politician and never the expert. It may also be a lesson.
Releasing a book 600 days from the next presidential election, is it trivial ...?
He will fuel speculation, find that the French are still interested in him and that he is still in the landscape and even in the hit parade of presidents. But deep down, it would take circumstances that nobody imagines to return ... "