In his book 'Journal of a Prisoner', Nicolas Sarkozy advocates for the broadest possible political gathering without exclusions, implying an inevitable alliance with the far right. This stance marks a profound break from Jacques Chirac's legacy, who had established a cordon sanitaire against the National Front. The former president justifies this strategic shift amid the weakness of his former party, The Republicans.
Nicolas Sarkozy, former President of the Republic, was long associated with the slogan 'the rupture' as he sought to break free from Jacques Chirac ahead of the 2007 election. Nearly two decades later, his latest book, Journal of a Prisoner (Fayard), reveals a far more significant break from his mentor's principles.
Jacques Chirac had firmly maintained a barrier between the republican right and the far right. In 2002, facing Jean-Marie Le Pen's advance to the presidential runoff, he refused any debate: 'Faced with intolerance and hatred, there can be no possible transaction, no possible compromise, no possible debate.' Before Sarkozy's 2007 election, Chirac delivered a clear political testament: 'Never compromise with extremism [which], in our history, nearly led us to the abyss. It is a poison.' In his memoirs, he stated that 'the far right will never change.'
Sarkozy holds the opposite view. In his book, he expresses admiration for Marine Le Pen and RN deputy Sébastien Chenu, with whom he shares outrage toward the judges. He recounts a conversation where he assures Le Pen he will not call for a republican front in case of early legislative elections, as the National Rally (RN) is 'not a danger to the Republic.' This summer, he met Jordan Bardella, thereby endorsing the supposed normalization of the party.
His entourage insists: he is not advocating a formal union of the rights and the far right, a specter haunting The Republicans (LR), who are increasingly ideologically aligned with the RN. Sarkozy writes that there are 'many divergences with the RN leaders' and that the solution does not lie in an alliance of apparatuses. Yet, by highlighting LR's weakness – unable to embody the future or qualify for the presidential runoff –, he calls for the 'broadest possible spirit of gathering, without anathema and without exclusion,' making an alliance with the far right inevitable.
This reasoning echoes his 2018 stance, where he urged LR to ally with Emmanuel Macron for the 2022 elections, a move he himself initiated by abandoning LR candidate Valérie Pécresse. Today, he foresees a similar shift toward the RN to reclaim power. This turnaround risks absorbing LR, as happened with Eric Ciotti's small UDR party. Sarkozy's motivations remain unclear: business interests – he serves as an administrator at Lagardère, linked to Vincent Bolloré, a proponent of uniting the rights – or personal grievances, given LR's limited support compared to Le Pen's 'courage.' Regardless, this evolution amounts to a renouncement of the Gaullist values rooted in the Resistance.