Sarkozy Returns to Politics

{{A year after he declared he would leave politics for good, France’s Nicolas Sarkozy is back in the spotlight.}}

The combative ex-president attended a meeting of his troubled UMP party Monday where he was welcomed like a star. It could mark his first step toward candidacy in the next presidential election in 2017.

It’s the first time the 58-year-old Sarkozy has made a political appearance since he lost the presidency to Socialist Francois Hollande in May 2012 after just one term in office.

It’s also the first time Sarkozy has attended a UMP party meeting since 2007, when he was elected president. Some 800 UMP politicians were invited to the event, closed to the media.

Last year, Sarkozy said that if voted out of office, he would “completely change my life. You won’t hear from me.” He later explained he aspired to a new life with his wife, singer and former model Carla Bruni, and their now-18-month-old daughter Giulia.

But much has changed since then. Sarkozy appears to be rejoining the political fray because of the embarrassing state his old party finds itself in.

The party he helped found, France’s center-right Union for a Popular Movement, faced a farcical election for a new leader last year that left it badly divided.

And now it’s on the edge of bankruptcy, swamped with debts after the Constitutional Court last week ruled that he exceeded the legal funding limit during the 2012 presidential race.

That decision prevents the UMP from being reimbursed half its campaign expenses by the state. That means Sarkozy’s party is left with an 11 million euro ($14 million) bill, pushing its overall debt to more than 50 million euros.

{France24}