Paris (AFP)

Former President François Hollande claims to "work on building a new political force" with a view to a left-wing candidacy capable of winning the presidential election in 2022.

"What I can do as a former president with the experience that is mine is work to build a new political force," said Mr. Hollande in an interview with Le Parisien published on Friday.

"Without it, the left of government will not have a candidate capable of winning the presidential election", because today, adds the former head of the socialist state, "nobody is expected, nobody is hoped ".

"I am not in the obsession or the revenge and even less in the grudge", he continues.

"I want above all that in 2022, it is possible to restore French democracy".

He criticizes the leader of rebellious France Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who announced his candidacy for 2022: "his personality is not unifying and his political line is not in the majority, on the left as in the country, and does not never will be ".

Worried about the economic and social consequences of the health crisis, Mr. Holland asks in particular to "grant to under 25 years a specific allowance for a fixed period" in order to avoid that the youth is "the sacrificed generation".

And, to finance the crisis measures, "new revenue will be necessary," he warns.

"The vertiginous widening of the debt announces without saying it an austerity plan in 2022".

Asked about his relationship with his successor, the former head of state calls on France Inter to further "share" his power in the face of "an accumulation of crises".

Emmanuel Macron "cannot do it alone", he said.

"To decide alone in a narrow circle, without associating all the living forces (...), that seems to me to be an approach which cannot today produce unity and consensus", estimates Mr. Hollande.

The current head of state "must dialogue" because, believes the former president, if "we want there to be an acceptance, the decision must be shared".

"If the anger rises, if the discontent sets in (...), then we will have social movements", he worries.

© 2020 AFP