The former head of state wants to believe in a "commitment of good faith". While the presence of the National Rally at this Sunday's great citizens' march against anti-Semitism continues to cause turmoil on the political chessboard, Nicolas Sarkozy considered as "perfectly ridiculous any form of controversy" on the presence of "this or that political force" at the rally, in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche.
The announced presence of Marine Le Pen and the National Rally, heir to a National Front with a history marked by anti-Semitism, has sparked political controversy. It was castigated by the left and embarrassed the presidential camp, with Olivier Véran seeing it as "indecency", while acknowledging the right of the far-right party to demonstrate, in an interview with Le Parisien.
Past anti-Semitism
"We cannot, at the same time, denounce the absence of the far left, whose anti-Semitic approach is well known, and be indignant at the presence of the National Rally, which wanted to break with its nauseating past," Sarkozy told the Sunday weekly. The former head of state says he does not understand this almost generalized political indignation: "What do we want? Let the National Rally continue in anti-Semitism or free itself from it? It's better for him to get rid of it! »
While acknowledging that "the history of the National Front (the former name of the RN party)" and its founder Jean-Marie Le Pen was "undeniably linked to anti-Semitism," Sarkozy confided that he "doesn't like" to talk about people who are too old (Jean-Marie Le Pen is 95) and therefore unable to defend themselves. The former tenant of the Élysée Palace also considers that the "public upheavals of the divisions within the Le Pen family have been spectacular enough not to need to return to them". He attributes to them "a priori a commitment of good faith".
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Several times during the interview, Nicolas Sarkozy – who rightly recalls that the National Rally has "cut with its founder" (Jean-Marie Le Pen was expelled from the party in 2015) and has "changed its name" – repeatedly defends himself from "any benevolence" towards this party that he has "always fought".