The former head of state and the LR candidate met around 11:30 a.m. in the Paris offices of Nicolas Sarkozy, an appointment stalled "for ten to fifteen days" according to the campaign team of Valérie Pécresse, who ensures that the two leaders "see each other regularly".

The meeting took on particular importance after a succession of warning signals.

First several rallies to Emmanuel Macron: the former Sarkozyist minister Eric Woerth on Wednesday, Thursday the mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart and Friday the former Secretary of State Nora Berra.

Thursday Rachida Dati crushed Patrick Stefanini, Valérie Pécresse's campaign manager, calling him a "loser" and "deserter" from whom she has "no lessons to learn".

Above all, comments attributed to Nicolas Sarkozy in an article in Le Figaro have fueled speculation: "Valérie goes all over the place", she is "non-existent" and "didn't understand anything about the campaign", "there is no no dynamic...

After a fanfare start in early December, the campaign of the president of the Ile-de-France region is indeed skating, and critics are expressing themselves on its too technical nature.

In the candidate's team, we relativize: "no importance should be given" to rallies which "the voters do not care about," says one.

"It's up to Nicolas Sarkozy to decide what he says" about his support, assures another.

"Rough"

But some do not hide their annoyance after these rallies.

"It's calculated a few days before the meeting" on Sunday, says a Pécresses member who is targeting the Macron camp: "it's proof that Valérie Pécresse worries them".

"This establishes the fact that the meeting will be ultra decisive" when 6,000 people are expected at the Zenith in Paris, he adds, convinced that Nicolas Sarkozy is "playing" with the situation and wants to recall his weight.

Valérie Pécresse, LR presidential candidate, arrives for a meeting with former President Nicolas Sarkozy, on February 11, 2022 in Paris JULIEN DE ROSA AFP

Last president that the right has known, figure of the commander of an entire political family, he has still not supported Valérie Pécresse and displays a certain closeness with Emmanuel Macron.

On January 30 on France 3, the candidate said her "conviction" that the former head of state "will support his political family" but "it's his choice", she insisted, before adding: "I don't am not a girl under guardianship, I have my independence".

"Not sure that he liked it", judges an ex-LR rallied to the macronie, who assures him: "the voice of Nicolas Sarkozy counts in the right-wing electorate. It would be a thunderclap if he did not did not support".

Valérie Pécresse also made a lot of reference to Jacques Chirac in this campaign: in Corrèze, in her speeches, but also Argenteuil, where Nicolas Sarkozy who had made a memorable outing on "scum" in 2005.

“She would be well advised to quote me a little if she wants me to support her,” according to Le Figaro, Nicolas Sarkozy would have said about the one he twice appointed minister.

"Who made him minister for five years, huh, it's Chirac?".

Words that are difficult to verify, even if the interlocutors of the former head of state testify that he may have a hard tooth.

"On the form it is quite rough. He is not in absolute detestation but good .... He sees the lack of impact of the measures, the Kärcher it did not please him because she did not ask him “, testifies an elected official, in allusion to the martial words of the candidate to “bring out the Kärcher in the face of delinquency.

And then "Sarko he needs to be treated. Macron will treat him a little", adds this elected official who says he is "quite pragmatic: if we are in a position to beat Macron, he will have no other choice than us support. On the other hand, if we are in difficulty, he can support us on the head".

© 2022 AFP