Alexandre Chauveau / Photo credit: ESTELLE RUIZ / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
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7:37 p.m., August 22, 2023
On the occasion of the release of his new book, The time of battles, Nicolas Sarkozy is traveling to La Baule this Tuesday for a signing session. In his book, the former president recounts his five-year term from 2009 and makes some comments on current political life. The former President of the Republic also says “wish” that the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin take “the final step” towards the Elysée in 2027.
“A person who has a lot of clairvoyance”
For Nicolas Sarkozy, La Baule is the city of his friend and former adviser Franck Louvrier, where he obtained very high scores in each election. 48% for example in the first round of the 2012 presidential election. On site, the queue stretches for several tens of meters. Many former voters and admirers of President Sarkozy came to meet him. “It’s for the pleasure of meeting a former president who meant a lot and a person who has a lot of foresight on what is happening, a lot of experience and who can still bring us a lot”, testifies this local resident.
“He was always a great statesman who made the French people respected. This is no longer quite the case now”, “He loves France, he loves the French, he is sincere. He is someone ‘one that I very much regret,’ add these two customers.
“I wanted to talk about the truth of feelings”
Nicolas Sarkozy connects the dedications inside the House of the press, where each customer therefore leaves with one or more copies under the arm. The former head of state nevertheless took the time to answer a few questions, in particular on his propensity to say things as he thinks them, even if it means sometimes displeasing or disappointing certain personalities.
“There are a lot of people that I like, I say it, but you know, a book is a total commitment. A book, it must tell its truth. I wanted to talk about the truth of feelings and necessarily the book must be hot, it must not be cold. The book must be embodied, it must not be disembodied. Otherwise you would not be so numerous. There would not be hundreds of people to buy the book and read it”, indicates Nicolas Sarkozy at the microphone of Europe 1. The dedication continues in La Baule this Tuesday, with a few hundred readers waiting their turn outside the bookstore.