Paris (AFP)

Godfather in politics, close among relatives, traitor, intimate enemy ... Relations between Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, two men in a hurry of politics, have made headlines.

In recent years both have been known to have no "grudge" or "hatred", but the echoes of their clashes have often been heard. Mr. Chirac had even launched in 2011 that he would vote for Francois Hollande in the 2012 presidential election against Nicolas Sarkozy.

"I want to say my respect to Jacques Chirac who, in 1975 in Nice, gave me my first speech". On January 14, 2007, however, Mr. Sarkozy had carefully chosen his words during his inauguration as a candidate of the UMP, the party founded by the president and he conquered two years earlier to make it his electoral war machine.

Behind the public tribute, the candidate-minister likes to say that that day, Jacques Chirac had "offered" him five minutes and he had monopolized the microphone for half an hour. Already like a taste of competition.

And Jacques Chirac, to remember in a book of interviews with Pierre Péan the "young militant of Neuilly, who has politically engaged fully for me" and which he puts his foot in the stirrup to take 28 years of city ​​hall.

But who, already, would have allowed to appear the ingratitude ... "Hardly elected, Sarkozy did not stop explaining that I was there for nothing, it should have made tilt", continues the president.

For now, the young man is gradually entering the first circle. He will witness the marriage of Claude Chirac, and Minister of the budget of the second cohabitation.

Comes 1995 and the "betrayal" of support to Edouard Balladur for the presidential election. The break is up to the disappointment. Jacques Chirac's dry judgment to Pierre Péan: "Sarkozy is very ambitious, and as he is very intelligent, he considers that everything must be put at the service of his objectives".

And when we talk to him about "stabbing" in politics, it is the name of his former protégé who comes, even if it is to say: "I do not care about Sarkozy or such other ...".

- "They will spare me nothing" -

Elected, he names Matignon who he presents as "the best of us", Alain Juppé.

Ostracized after the defeat, the mayor of Neuilly awaits his time. In 2002, he returns to the government. But his ambitions posted him will be worth new trouble. Dryly put in its place by President Chirac - "I decide, he executes" - he must resign in November 2004 to take the head of the UMP against the will of the Head of State.

Six months later, after the electoral slams of the regional and the European referendum, he returns triumphantly, number 2 of the government ... and still president of the UMP.

He will see in this return place Beauvau protection, ensuring that "they will spare me nothing". This will support the Clearstream case.

The spades leave more beautiful. On July 14, 2005, he invited journalists to his ministry in the middle of the Elysian garden party, assuring "not having the vocation to quietly dismount the locks at Versailles while France scolds".

The faithful of the president face, not missing an opportunity to shoot him arrows, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin in mind. But Nicolas Sarkozy finally rally to his candidacy most of the faithful Chiraquiens.

For many observers, the relationship between the two men has been so passionate because they are alike.

"If you look good, there are many points of convergence," recognizes Jacques Chirac. "Basically, maybe this temperament reminds him of another," adds Nicolas Sarkozy.

"In any case, concedes the latter in his autobiography" Passions "(2019) where he details this" strange and complex link "that unites him with" the whole family Chirac "," I would not have become what I am without them".

© 2019 AFP