(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Nicolas Sarkozy painted a dire portrait of the crisis in France yesterday as the ex-president capped a high-profile political comeback that has kicked off a battle for supremacy over the country's struggling opposition.
Describing France as "one of the rare countries where there is such a lack of hope," the man who lost the presidency to Socialist leader Francois Hollande in 2012 said he had had no choice but to return to politics.
"Can I say: France is collapsing, people don't believe in politics anymore, my political family (opposition UMP party) is divided like never before - Ok then I get it, I'll stay at home?," he asked in a television interview.
"Not only do I want (to come back), but I don't have a choice."
The 59-year-old announced his return Friday on Facebook after months of speculation, setting the scene for a battle among leading centre-right opposition figures for the 2017 general election end-game as they try and put behind infighting and scandals that have torn the UMP party apart.
Alain Juppe, who served as defence and foreign minister under Sarkozy, and Francois Fillon, who was prime minister during the former president's five-year term, have both announced they plan to give him a run for his money.
While Sarkozy has said he will stand for the presidency of the UMP in November, Juppe and Fillon are looking further ahead to the party's presidential primaries in 2016.
Sarkozy's return to politics comes at a time when France is mired in a deep crisis as Hollande struggles with zero-growth, record high unemployment, a bulging deficit and record popularity lows.
The former president defended his own record in office from 2007 to 2012, during which unemployment rose to close to 10 percent at the height of the financial crisis.
In 2008, "the worldwide crisis struck France," he said.
"It was a crisis that affected every country without exception and every sector.
"In 2014, it is the crisis in France that can tip Europe into bankruptcy. That's new," he warned. In an interview with the JDD weekly earlier yesterday, Sarkozy pledged to completely reform the struggling UMP party if elected as its head.
"I am going to change the name of the party, put in place a new organisation, install a new generation of people and bring back members and donors to straighten out the accounts," he was quoted as saying.
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