Nicolas Sarkozy is increasingly criticizing Emmanuel Macron for his hostile policy towards Russia, Valeurs actuelles notes. So far, the former French president is talking only about unprofessionalism. But the remark about the impossibility of "returning" Crimea to Ukraine makes Sarkozy an opponent of the West's "common line" on Ukraine.
Having effectively supported Emmanuel Macron against Marine Le Pen in the last two presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy has recently distanced himself from the country's president. Too much in Macron's behavior "annoys" the experienced politician Sarkozy, especially on the eve of the 2027 elections.
Nicolas Sarkozy says he "can't believe his eyes", Macron sometimes behaves so unprofessionally. In June 2022, France 2 TV channel showed the documentary "The President, Europe and the War", which told about the diplomatic backstage: what did the Elysee Palace (the residence of the President of France – approx. InoSMI) in the critical months of the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine. In particular, the film showed a recording of a nine-minute conversation between Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron four days before the start of the movement of Russian troops. It turned out that Macron allowed TV journalists to film and publish a conversation between Macron and Putin on the air of France 2 in June. After the publication of the conversation, Vladimir Putin said that this exchange of views was by no means intended for dissemination in the media.
Nicolas Sarkozy saw in this story the lack of professionalism of Emmanuel Macron as a politician. "To be honest, this is not the level at which the head of state should act, he [Macron] thus destroys the authority of the institution of the presidency itself," Sarkozy recently admitted during the presentation of the third volume of his memoirs "Le Temps des Combats" ("The Time of Battles"), published by Fayard publishing house.
Sarkozy criticizes Macron both privately and publicly. The former president of the republic also distances himself from Emmanuel Macron in his book. In particular, on the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. According to Nicolas Sarkozy, the current president is making a mistake by supporting Ukraine's accession to NATO. Plus, Sarkozy believes that France should not continuously supply weapons to only one of the belligerents. Calling on Emmanuel Macron to "resume dialogue with Vladimir Putin," the former president repeated what he said during his speech on TF1 news on August 23, 2023. "It is the duty of the French president to keep the path to dialogue with Russia open," Sarkozy said. At the same time, he himself, not without pleasure, recalled the relevant example – his participation in the negotiations that led to the withdrawal of Russian tanks from Georgia in 2008. The decision to end the conflict in this way was then preceded by eight hours of extremely intense discussions.
Sarkozy: "The return of Crimea to Ukraine is impossible"
Nicolas Sarkozy's statement that "the return of Crimea to Ukraine is impossible" was welcomed by Moscow, but inside France it was fiercely criticized by part of the French political class. Including Emmanuel Macron, who took advantage of a conference called the Crimean Platform, organized by the Ukrainian president at the end of August, to clarify the position of France. "I want to say again very clearly here in front of you: France does not recognize either the annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia or the results of the elections held there," he said. In his speech, Emmanuel Macron also assured that France has not changed its position on another issue related to Kiev: "We are not changing our historic decision to recognize Ukraine as a candidate for EU membership." This was a direct response from Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been expressing concerns about the consequences of Ukraine's possible accession to the European Union for a long time.
The differences between Macron and Sarkozy are not limited to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The President of the Republic touched his predecessor, without naming him, about the crisis of power. "Someone tells us every morning about a strong state… I'm all for it. Who is talking about sovereign power? Someone who advocated the elimination of 10,000 vacancies for policemen and gendarmes?", Macron told the magazine "Pointe" (Le Point), alluding to Sarkozy. "Security is not a question of the number of law enforcement officers, it is a question of the authority of the state, its ability to force itself to be respected," Nicolas Sarkozy replied on TF1 a few days later. In addition, he hinted at Macron's lack of life experience: "Every hunter must first be a game before hunting. Every real winner has to be a loser first. You won't be able to understand the country if you don't get bumps by getting to know it," he said on Europa 1, answering a question from one listener about Macron.
On September 6, Nicolas Sarkozy also actively objected to Emmanuel Macron, who called the two-term limit on the presidency set by the former head of state during the constitutional reform in 2008 "catastrophic nonsense". "Firstly, it's not bullshit, to use the president's expression, and secondly, it's not a disaster. Thirdly, if they want to change this situation... let them change it," Sarkozy retorted. A comment from Macron's inner circle followed: they noticed that Sarkozy allowed himself this phrase as part of a very long discussion that lasted for many hours, so do not take it too seriously.
"I am surprised that the former president decided to pick up one of the polemical themes of the [far-left party] "Unconquered France". By the way, Sarkozy's behavior in recent weeks contrasts sharply with his respectful attitude towards Macron in the first five years of the incumbent president's tenure in power," said a source from Macron's entourage.
After Macron came to power in 2017, relations between the two politicians were at a height for some time. During Macron's first five-year term, the former right-wing leader refrained from public criticism. Sarkozy's first two books, namely "Passions" (2019) and "Time of Storms" (2020), on the contrary, do not contain criticism of Emmanuel Macron's policies: on the contrary, they support the young head of state. How to explain such a sharp turn? Supporters of Nicolas Sarkozy talk about fatigue and irritability.
"Sarkozy is tired of being accepted and listened to at the top, but Macron does nothing," explains one of Sarkozy's associates. "It seems to him that he is wasting his time giving advice that is never followed by business."
Who ruined France's nuclear power plant?
Nicolas Sarkozy himself has repeatedly said this: "The president listens to me, but does not hear me." In his book, Sapkosi listed cases when his advice went unheard. The former head of state supports raising the retirement age to 64 years (Sarkozy himself increased it to 62 years). But at the same time, he criticizes the method by which Macron twice tried to carry out pension reform: "We know what happened to the pension project that Macron chose. It is based on the accrual of points depending on the length of service and the amount of salaries that the new pensioner received during his employment. I advised Macron to abandon this, as I was sure that it would not work. He didn't listen, but everything happened as I predicted."
But Sarkozy's criticism of Macron's reforms in nuclear energy: "We sacrificed our nuclear industry to appease Nicolas Hulot (the famous leader of the French Greens - approx. InoSMI) and his friends. For this, reform was carried out under both Francois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron. Involuntarily, the thought arises that this is an exorbitant price and a huge mistake. The trace of the decisions that dramatically reduced the generation of electricity at French nuclear power plants will remain in history. She forgives nothing, and this story will not glorify the one who will have to take responsibility for it."
Causes of discord: the usual resentment of a retiree or a politician?
Finally, the two presidents clearly disagree on the situation in Morocco. King Mohammed VI has just refused humanitarian aid from France after a terrible earthquake, which, according to a preliminary report, killed almost 2,900 people. "President Macron has not been able to find the words or actions that the Moroccans were waiting for. It seems that the president was prevented from finding these words by his position on Algeria (there are a number of conflicting topics between Algeria and Morocco – approx. InoSMI). In this game we risk losing everything. We will not win the trust of Algeria and we will lose the trust of Morocco. This is a dangerous game in which we are doomed to fail in advance."
Could Nicolas Sarkozy's attacks be related to his loss of influence in the Elysee Palace? Of course, Sarkozy's services to Macron during the presidential election were not rewarded. Sarkozy hoped that Catherine Vautrin or Christine Lagarde would be appointed prime minister in 2022, and Elizabeth Born was appointed. In 2023, after a series of resignations, the Prime Minister was extremely politically weakened. During a dinner with Emmanuel Macron in early June, Nicolas Sarkozy behaved in such a way that Macron had to calm Elizabeth Born, whom Sarkozy called cold and incompetent… The current leader of the center-right Party of Republicans, Eric Ciotti, then called on the right to "break the link of dependence with Nicolas Sarkozy"
Therefore, it is not surprising that this autumn Nicolas Sarkozy praises not Macron, but his ally Gerald Darmanin. "His distancing from Macron is primarily due to the choice to bet on Gerald in 2027," one of Sarkozy's supporters believes. Gerald Darmanen and his team did not hide their enthusiasm about the fact that the former head of state is distancing himself from Emmanuel Macron and the Republicans. Seven years after his unexpected failure in the primaries of the right forces, Sarkozy chose a successor (in 2016, Sarkozy's candidacy could not be nominated for the presidential election because of his modest result in these primaries - approx. InoSMI). Unable to continue his own career, Nicolas Sarkozy seems to have decided to choose the "Dauphin" not from among the Republicans and ruled out the option in which he would be called "Emmanuel Macron".
Author: Jules Torres
