Paris (AFP)
Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday believe as Emmanuel Macron, who has just welcomed the G7 in France, "multilateralism" and a rapprochement with Russia, and criticized the "method" of Donald Trump against China and Iran.
Speaking at the Medef Summer School, the former president said he "believed like Emmanuel Macron in multilateralism" and that he had "approved the invitation that was made" by his successor to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, received in France before the G7 Biarritz.
"It does not mean that we agree on everything" with Moscow but "Europe must be a pivot, speaking with everyone, without weakness but without a priori," said Nicolas Sarkozy, who is said "for a lifting of sanctions" taken against Russia in 2014 after its annexation of Crimea.
Macron on Tuesday called for "rethinking our connection with Russia" because "pushing Russia away from Europe is a big mistake".
"It is insane the attitude of some of our elites towards Russia.The West has absolutely become a minority and we want to push Russia into the arms of China," said Nicolas Sarkozy.
On trade talks between the United States and China, Sarkozy said "in many ways" US President Donald Trump was "right" but "disapproved of the method."
"I do not think we'll get anything out of China by talking about it like that, brutally (...) and I think the same thing with Iran", that "we do not must not humiliate, "developed the former president.
He judged democracy "very sick", become "a place where everyone has the power to undo or oppose but where no one has the power to do", quoting in this regard the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who "has in a few years one of the largest airports in the world" while, "we, it takes 40 years to stop Notre-Dame-des-Landes".
Speaking of the crisis in his party The Republicans since his debacle in the European elections, Mr. Sarkozy slipped, during a long book signing session, that "everything comes together someday".
The former president has said he has "no more electoral ambition". He praised after his speech the ex-LR Minister of Public Accounts Gérald Darmanin.
© 2019 AFP