Paris (AFP)

Nearly three years after his bitter presidential defeat, François Fillon returns for a long television interview Thursday, a few weeks before his trial in the alleged fictitious jobs of his wife Penelope job.

The former Prime Minister, withdrawn from political life since his elimination from the first round in 2017, will be the exceptional guest of "Vous vous la parole" at 9:00 p.m. on France2.

The interview, without any opponent other than the journalists, should last 1 hour 15 minutes, "around business" but also "the situation of France, governance" and "the international situation", according to the editor. from the show, Alix Bouilhaguet.

The intervention is eagerly awaited a few weeks before the trial of Mr. Fillon, who will be tried in particular for "embezzlement of public funds" from February 24 to March 11 before the Paris Criminal Court.

"He is committed to giving his truth," says the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau, close to the former head of government.

"François Fillon was brought before the media court, it is not a question of settling accounts, but of explaining himself before the French," he adds.

Mr. Fillon, his wife and his former alternate to the Assembly Marc Joulaud will be judged in the case of the alleged fictitious jobs of Penelope, for which she would have received more than a million euros between 1998 and 2013. The couple will also answer for "complicity and concealment of abuse of social goods" for a partially fictitious job at the Revue des Deux Mondes.

- "He turned the page" -

In 2017, this resounding affair with multiple twists and turns had stopped the race for the presidency of the right-wing candidate, the favorite party in the polls, but finally eliminated in the first round.

Charged in March, two months after the first revelations of the investigation by the duck chained, Mr. Fillon had initially denounced a "state scandal" before taking refuge in silence.

"Part of the presidential election was completely skewed" by this case, which has become a soap opera, said MP LR Eric Woerth today.

At the time, the cascading revelations had damaged the honest image of Mr. Fillon. The murderous formula he had used against Nicolas Sarkozy during the primary of the right - "who imagines de Gaulle indicted?" - came back to him like a boomerang.

The coup de grace came from the revelations of Robert Bourgi, a figure in the "Françafrique" networks, who boasted of having offered him two suits worth 13,000 euros.

In 2017, the right was for the first time in the Fifth Republic absent from the second round of the presidential election.

For The Republicans who have continued to sink ever since, this sequence therefore brings back bad memories, just before municipal elections which finally offer them the opportunity to raise their heads.

"Not sure that it has an influence on the elections," wants to believe the president of LR Christian Jacob. "He has left the political field," notes an elected official. "This will turn the page," hopes another.

Others have trouble digesting the platform offered in prime time to the former candidate. "It's lousy. It sucks. It has no interest," storms an elected official.

Absent from the French media since 2017, Mr. Fillon gave an interview in October to Swiss Radio and Television, where he compared the mobilization of "yellow vests" to that of the opponents of his own pension reform, in 2003. "Macron , he's a little player next door! " he had quipped.

Away from politics, Mr. Fillon is a partner in the management company Tikehau Capital and sits on the International Automobile Federation (FIA). He is also committed to Christians in the East.

And there is little chance that he will take advantage of Thursday's show to announce his return to politics: "he has turned the page," according to Mr. Retailleau.

© 2020 AFP