Paris (AFP)
Eric Zemmour, who is credited with presidential candidacy, announced Wednesday that he would no longer keep his weekly column in Le Figaro while promoting his next book, to be published in mid-September.
"France is at a crossroads, but it has not said its last word. I am going to meet the French to present them my new book," tweeted the controversial star of CNews.
"As part of these exchanges with the French, I will no longer be able to ensure my weekend column in Le Figaro," added the one who also writes in the Figaro Magazine.
Contacted by AFP, the editorial director of Le Figaro, Alexis Brézet, confirmed that Eric Zemmour would no longer ensure these two meetings "until the end of the promotion of his book", "La France n ' has not said his last word ", the essayist having asked" to have time to go and see his readers ".
"He was leaving for unpaid leave", effective from Wednesday, said Alexis Brézet, predicting "a whole series of signing sessions" of magnitude "in the coming weeks".
In June, Alexis Brézet assured his troops that Eric Zemmour would have to withdraw from Figaro if he were to embark on the race for the Elysee.
"We are not there yet," he told AFP on Wednesday.
At the end of his promotional campaign, either Eric Zemmour "announces that he is not going and he returns to the newspaper, or he announces that he is going and the leave is intended to be extended", added Mr. Brézet.
Eric Zemmour himself publishes his essay that the publisher Albin Michel did not want to publish, invoking the author's desire to make it "a key element of his candidacy".
If he has never openly declared himself a candidate, the columnist has the support of the association "Les Amis d'Eric Zemmour", which recently claimed to have received "a hundred" sponsorships of elected officials for 2022.
Persecuted multiple times for his remarks, the polemicist must be tried again on September 8 for "incitement to discrimination" and "racial insults" after having qualified unaccompanied minor migrants as "thieves", "murderers" and "rapists" on CNews in September 2020.
© 2021 AFP