Nicolas Sarkozy has broken the cordon sanitaire inherited from Jacques Chirac by promising Marine Le Pen not to call for a republican front in future elections. This stance has sparked outrage among Chiraquian heirs, who uphold an uncompromising line against the far right. Solenn de Royer, in a Le Monde chronicle, notes the gradual disappearance of this circle on the right.
In a recent statement, Nicolas Sarkozy revealed his promise to Marine Le Pen to refrain from calling for a republican front in upcoming elections. He sees a union of the rights as a way to save Les Républicains (LR), stating that the party's future involves 'a rupture with a part of its history.' The former president even compared Jordan Bardella, whom he met this summer, to the RPR under Chirac, noting that 'his discourse is not very different from ours at the time.'
These remarks shocked a segment of the Chiraquiens. On December 14, Valérie Pécresse, former LR presidential candidate and Chirac advisor at the Élysée, called for a 'sursaut' in La Tribune Dimanche, emphasizing that there is 'nothing in common between the heirs of Gaullism and the heirs of Le Penism.'
Two days later, Jean-François Copé, a former Chirac minister, responded in L'Express: 'No, Jordan Bardella is really not Jacques Chirac!' He stresses the incompatibility of the political families: 'Gaullism, Chiraquism, and even Sarkozysm have always been built around an intangible principle: the absence of any compromise with the far right.'
Jacques Chirac had established this cordon sanitaire from the start of his presidency. In 1998, he intervened on television to condemn regional presidents accepting votes from the Front National, reminding that France draws 'its grandeur' from the values of 'liberty, equality, and fraternity.' He warned the republican right that it could convince without renouncing itself against a party 'of a racist and xenophobic nature.' Before Sarkozy's 2007 election, Chirac left this legacy: 'Never compose with extremism.'
This uncompromising line now appears to be rarefying on the right, signaling the end of a Chiraquian era.
