Lebanese Ministry of Information
Former French head of state Nicolas Sarkozy has announced that he is a candidate to run again in next year’s presidential election.
In order to stand, he must first win his centre-right Republicans party’s primary in November.
Mr Sarkozy said he “felt he had the strength to lead the combat at such a tormented moment in our history.”
No-one doubts his energy, but a number of obstacles must be overcome if he is to fight his way back to the Elysee.
Nicolas Sarkozy served as French president from 2007 to 2012, and the country he left behind as he walked from the Elysee was not a happy one.
The campaign promises of a land where people could “work more to earn more” had vanished. Unemployment was back near 10%; the deficit ballooning; and the much-vaunted “rupture” with the country’s uncompetitive past as much a dream as five years previously.
Mr Sarkozy could argue – with some justice – that all his plans to rewire the economy had gone down the drain by the 2008 world crisis.
