Nicolas Sarkozy deplores a “distressing spectacle” after the appointment of François Bayrou to Matignon

POLITICS – It’s no secret: the two men hardly like each other. Nicolas Sarkozy has always seen François Bayrou as a traitor (he called for him to be beaten in 2012), when the Béarnais has often expressed his contempt for the former President of the Republic to whom he devoted a book with the title evocative: Abuse of power.

Unsurprisingly, and while Nicolas Sarkozy tried to use all his weight to prevent the Palois from taking over from Michel Barnier, the former head of state is not at all satisfied with the turn of events. And he confides in unequivocal terms with La Tribune Sunday. « I am sorry for France for this distressing spectacle, and sorry for the President of the Republic, who submits himself to combinations that no one can understand. », denounces the former tenant of the Élysée, whose preference was for Sébastien Lecornu, from the right and embodying the alliance between LR and the presidential camp that Nicolas Sarkozy is calling for.

In reality, it could hardly be otherwise, as the animosity is so tenacious between these two political veterans, who nevertheless both campaigned together during the 1995 presidential election in the service of Édouard Balladur. In his book The Time of Storms published in 2020, Nicolas Sarkozy wrote this warning: “ François Bayrou has always betrayed those he chose. Emmanuel Macron will, in turn, have the bitter experience of this before the end of his five-year term. I don’t doubt it for a moment.” It is now up to the new Prime Minister to demonstrate the opposite.

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