(ANSAmed) - PARIS, MAY 7 - Nicolas Sarkozy is leaving
politics, the defeated President has himself announced it to his
leading aides at the Elyse'e Palace, the French newspaper Le
Figaro says. The 20 close collaborators and political colleagues
of the outgoing head of state, including the Prime Minister,
Franois Fillon and the head of the UMP party, Jean-Franois
Cope', were addressed for over an hour by a tired and
weary-looking Sarkozy, the paper's website said. Le Figaro is
the newspaper closest to Sarkozy and followed his campaign in
great detail.
''A chapter is closing for me,'' said Sarkozy, who was quoted on the paper's site by one of the officials who attended the meeting. ''I will not stand at the parliamentary elections, nor in future elections. Don't worry, I will renew my UMP membership and pay my membership fee. But I will no longer be active''.
Amid the leaden atmosphere that followed, one minister is said to have asked one of Sarkozy's most trusted aides: ''Does that mean he's leaving for good?''. The response was a firm one: ''Yes, clearly, haven't you understood that yet?''. (ANSAmed).
''A chapter is closing for me,'' said Sarkozy, who was quoted on the paper's site by one of the officials who attended the meeting. ''I will not stand at the parliamentary elections, nor in future elections. Don't worry, I will renew my UMP membership and pay my membership fee. But I will no longer be active''.
Amid the leaden atmosphere that followed, one minister is said to have asked one of Sarkozy's most trusted aides: ''Does that mean he's leaving for good?''. The response was a firm one: ''Yes, clearly, haven't you understood that yet?''. (ANSAmed).
