“The match has begun!” declared right-wing presidential hopeful Alain Juppé on Sunday
Nicolas Sarkozy’s main rivals as right-wing candidate in France’s 2017 presidential election squared up to the former president on Sunday after his political comeback on Friday. “The match has begun!” was ex-prime minister Alain Juppé’s response to Sarkozy’s Facebook declaration that he wants to lead the UMP party.
Sarkozy has not yet officially declared his intention of standing in the 2017 presidential election – and he told the Journal du Dimanche (JDD) Sunday paper that he will not do so in a television interview set for Sunday evening. But the two men who have already declared they want the mainstream right’s nomination – Juppé and another ex-premier, François Fillon – appeared in no doubt that he has his eyes on that prize.
“Do you think anyone’s surprised?” scoffed Juppé when asked about Sarkozy’s long-awaited return to active politics. Dismissing Sarkozy’s reference to his 2004 conviction in a party-funding scandal, he advised the former president, who is the subject of seven legal inquiries, not to join battle on the question of “legal worries”. FULL STORY
