France: Appeals court orders former French president Sarkozy to stand trial for illegal campaign financing

France’s highest appeals court on Tuesday rejected a bid by former President Nicolas Sarkozy to avoid facing trial over the alleged illegal financing of his failed re-election campaign in 2012.

The decision by the French “Cour de Cassation” means the case will now return to prosecutors who will decide whether Sarkozy should be tried. He denies any wrongdoing.

The so-called “Bygmalion” case against Sarkozy centres on accusations that the former president’s political party, then known as the UMP, worked with a public relations firm to hide the true cost of his re-election bid.

France sets strict limits on campaign spending. Prosecutors say the PR firm, Bygmalion, invoiced the UMP rather than the campaign, allowing Sarkozy to spend almost double the permitted amount.

Even though investigating magistrates found no evidence that Sarkozy set up the fraudulent system, took part in it or was even informed about it, they said they considered it unlikely that he had left it solely to staff to take decisions on such matters.

Read more at: Appeals court orders former French president Sarkozy to stand trial for illegal campaign financing

French election 2012: Nicolas Sarkozy faces defeat as France heads to polls - by John Irish and Sybille de La Hamaide

France voted on Sunday in elections that could crown Francois Hollande as its first Socialist president in nearly two decades, marking a leftward shift at the heart of Europe and making Nicolas Sarkozy the region’s 11th leader to be toppled by the economic crisis.

Buoyed by a tide of anger at Sarkozy’s inability to rein in rampant unemployment during his five-year term, Hollande was between four and eight points ahead in final opinion polls for Sunday’s vote, which takes place alongside a Greek parliamentary election expected to punish leading parties for economic misery.

A wide margin of victory would give Hollande more authority to pursue his promise to push back a wave of unpopular German-inspired austerity in Europe, which brought hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the streets across the region last week, by refocusing on growth-orientated policies.

Read more: French election 2012: Nicolas Sarkozy faces defeat as France heads to polls | News | National Post

French Presidential Elections: Sarkozy gains ground, but Hollande victory likely: polls - by Angela Charlton

The final polls before France's presidential election Sunday show President Nicolas Sarkozy making up ground on Socialist challenger Francois Hollande — but still predict a Hollande victory.

Mr. Sarkozy on Friday predicted a “surprise” and Mr. Hollande urged his voters to avoid complacency as the bitter campaign neared its climax, driven by fears about joblessness, immigration and France's economic future.

Mr. Sarkozy, disliked by many voters for his handling of the economy, promised he could come out victorious on Sunday. Speaking on Europe-1 radio Friday, he said much will depend on whether French voters bother to cast ballots in an election that polls have always predicted Mr. Hollande would win.

For more: Sarkozy gains ground, but Hollande victory likely: polls - The Globe and Mail

French Presidential Elections: Defiant Sarkozy blasts ‘lying’ opinion polls - by Peter Allen

Nicolas Sarkozy today insisted “the opinion polls are lying” as a vicious live TV debate failed to reignite his bid to be re-elected President of France.

The 57-year-old conservative went head-to-head with François Hollande, his socialist rival, during the three-hour broadcast yesterday evening.

Both men exchanged insults, with Mr Sarkozy accusing Mr Hollande of “lies and slander” about everything from his plans to tax the rich to his policies on Europe. But Mr Sarkozy failed to land a knock-out blow and — with three days before the country votes — Mr Hollande was still far ahead in the opinion polls.

Styling himself during the debate “the president of justice” and “the president of unity”, Mr Hollande, 57,  accused Sarkozy of being an abject failure during his five years in power.

Read more: Defiant Sarkozy blasts ‘lying’ opinion polls - World - News - Evening Standard

French Presidential elections: Sarkozy unable to land knockout punch to Hollande in three hr TV debate

Trailing Hollande in opinion polls by six to 10 points before Sunday's decisive runoff Sarkozy needed a knockout punch in this three hour TV debate to turn the tables. It did not happen.

"Sarkozy needs to swing 1.5 million people to his side. It won't be easy, but that doesn't mean it's impossible," Bernard Sananes, head of the CSA polling institute told a TV station

The duel was carried live on channels that reach roughly half France's 44.5 million voters.

Hollande appeared more confident and relaxed through most of the exchanges, saying he aimed to be "the president of justice", "the president of revival" and "the president of unity", and copying the Obama  2008 slogan, "the president of change".

Sarkozy, struggling to keep his job, came out slugging, assailing Socialist Hollande's plans to raise taxes and boost spending, repeatedly accusing him of lying. The Socialist Hollande held his own in a fight that many expected would be dominated by the sharp-tongued Sarkozy.

Interesting was both candidates strong support for the European Union even though they disagreed on details related to the application of the EU financial pact and the policies of the European central bank

EU-Digest

French Presidential Poll: Hollande 54.5%, Sarkozy 45.5% In 2nd Election Round

In a poll released Monday by Ifop, 54.5% of potential voters would chose Hollande if elections were held now, while 45.5% of them would pick Sarkozy.

Among the voters who chose to support far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon in the first round of elections, 83% of them said that they would vote for Hollande in the second round, while only 6% plan to vote for Sarkozy, said Ifop.

In the first round of French presidential elections held last Sunday, Hollande got 28.6% of the votes, Sarkozy 27.2%. Le Pen came third with 17.9% and Melenchon 11.1%, while Bayrou got 9.1% of the votes. Five minor candidates, including the green candidate, shared the remaining votes.

EU-Digest

France’s Sarkozy rules out deal with far-right

French President Nicolas Sarkozy ruled out any deal with the far-right National Front of Marine Le Pen, backed by nearly a fifth of voters in a presidential election first round, to give them cabinet jobs or help them win seats in parliament.

An opinion poll showed two-thirds of Sarkozy supporters want him to break with past policy and strike an alliance with the Front after Le Pen’s 17.9 percent score on Sunday made her 6.4 million backers key to a May 6 presidential runoff.

Sarkozy said on Wednesday that listening to Le Pen’s backers did not mean he could envisage far-right ministers in a conservative-led government. “There will be no pact with the National Front,” he told France Info radio, saying there were too many issues on which the parties disagreed to imagine giving the party cabinet posts.

For more: France’s Sarkozy rules out deal with far-right - Arab News

French Presidential elections: Hollande beats Sarkozy and both heading to French vote runoff

With 75 percent of the vote counted, Hollande had 27.9 percent of ballots cast and Sarkozy 26.7 percent, according to figures released by the Interior Ministry after final polls closed.

Le Pen was in third with 19.2 percent of the vote so far. In fourth place was leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon with 10.8 percent, followed by centrist Francois Bayrou with 9.2 percent and five other candidates with minimal support.

Turnout was also surprisingly high, projected by polling agencies at about 80 percent, despite concern that a campaign lacking a single overarching theme had failed to inspire voters.

EU-Digest

France: Turnout solid in French Presidential Election

The French Interior Ministry says more than one in four French voters in the first round of France's Presidential Election cast ballots before noon — a solid turnout compared to recent years.

After a provisional noontime count, the ministry said over 28 percent of France's 44-million-plus registered voters had cast ballots.

It was less than the 31 percent at the same time in the 2007 first-round vote, but more than in the four previous races. A high abstention rate could alter the political terrain by giving more influence to more ideological — and less centrist — voters.

For more: Turnout solid in French Presidential Election

French Presidential Election: Sarkozy: "Why have Europe's socialist leaders lost power because they left the restaurant without paying the bill"

During one of his last speeches before the first round of the Presidential elections tomorrow, Sunday, President Sarkozy hit hard at his major opponent, Francois Hollande who has been ahead in the polls.

Beating his fist in time to his words, he asked: "Why have Europe's other socialist leaders lost power? Because they left the restaurant without paying the bill. Now we're paying it for them and we don't want them back. I tell you Hollande will lose!"

Recent polls have put Mr Hollande up to 15 points ahead of Mr Sarkozy in the second round of voting as French voters warm to his message of a renegotiated European Union fiscal pact.

If Sarkozy succeeds in turning his political fortunes around in the next fortnight, it would be the most breathtaking reversal in modern French political history.

French Presidential elections: France to punish early poll leaks on websites

France plans new measures to clamp down on media and social networks that publish exit polls and partial results of Sunday's presidential election ahead of their official release, and will not hesitate to sue lawbreakers, the country's poll watchdog said.

French law forbids pollsters from releasing vote estimates on election day and the day before, but the emergence of technology such has Twitter has made it more difficult to control potential leaks of voting trends.

The Poll Commission, which regulates pollsters, is due to outline on Friday new steps to prevent leaks on sites such as Twitter and Facebook as well as traditional media after the Liberation newspaper hinted it might break the embargo.


For more: France to punish early poll leaks on websites | Reuters

France Presidential Elections: French rivals hold duelling Paris rallies

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Socialist challenger Francois Hollande staged rival street rallies for tens of thousands of supporters Sunday, one week from their presidential election.

In a forceful display in the Place de la Concorde before a sea of tricolour banners, Sarkozy rallied his UMP party's right-wing faithful with an appeal to an "Eternal France" embodied by Moliere, Napoleon and Charles de Gaulle.

Further east, by the Chateau de Vincennes, Hollande told a similarly huge but visibly more diverse crowd that it was time for a change after five years of injustice and austerity at the hands of Sarkozy and financial markets.

Both events matched the campaigns' hopes and set the stage for a week of campaigning ahead of the April 22 first round vote, which is expected to see the pair chosen as frontrunners to proceed to a May 6 run-off.

For more: AFP: French rivals hold duelling Paris rallies

French Presidential Elections: Sarkozy 'embarrassed France' with Obama video conference TV stunt - by Angelique Chrisafis

 
Nicolas Sarkozy has been accused of using a video conference with Barack Obama to boost his election campaign. In an unprecedented move in French diplomacy, newscasts on several TV channels showed the first few minutes of a video link-up between the French president and his Washington counterpart.

Days before the 22 April first-round vote in the French presidential election, the rare glimpse of banter between world leaders shows Obama saying of the campaign, "It must be a busy time." He adds: "I admire the tough battle you are waging." Sarkozy replies, grinning and with arms folded: "We will win, Mr Obama. You and me, together." The cameras leave before the presidents talk about Syria, Iran and oil.

The Socialist party accused Sarkozy of breaking diplomatic protocol and embarrassing France on the world scene in order to boost his struggling campaign for re-election, saying the images "weakened France's credibility in Washington and across the world".

For more: Sarkozy 'embarrassed France' with Obama video conference TV stunt | World news | guardian.co.uk

France: Sarkozy shines after France attacks, but voters appear unswayed - Robert Marquand

Nicolas Sarkozy

A killing spree in France that brought presidential election campaigning to a halt and dominated media for days appears to have had little impact on how people will vote, defying predictions that President Nicolas Sarkozy would benefit appreciably.

The events – a killer who shot three paratroopers, three Jewish children, and a rabbi in mid-March, a month before the first round of elections – has been the kind of crisis where Mr. Sarkozy shines. It underscored his increasing focus on security and crime: The killer, Mohammed Merah, who claimed Al Qaeda connections, was quickly discovered, and died in a standoff with police last week in Toulouse.

Yet Mr. Sarkozy, who has looked and sounded presidential while attending the recent funeral of paratroopers, and speaking of the need to unify the nation, slid 0.5 percent, from 28.5 percent to 28 percent, in polls this week by the French Institute of Public Opinion (Ifop). Moreover, French public fears of a major terrorist attack have actually fallen since the brutal events in Toulouse, a different Ifop poll shows.

For more: Sarkozy shines after France attacks, but voters appear unswayed - CSMonitor.com

Sarkozy, Socialists’ Hollande lead cast as presidential race shapes up in France

What’s likely to be a cacophonous list of French presidential candidates was being finalized Friday, but the race is really about two men with starkly different visions for the future of France.

Nicolas Sarkozy wants to make it a leaner, more competitive economy and keep a lid on immigration. Francois Hollande wants to tax the rich more, protect workers and make the country a kinder place — and become the first leftist to win the presidency in a generation.

French voters have six weeks to make up their minds before the balloting begins.

For more: Sarkozy, Socialists’ Hollande lead cast as presidential race shapes up in France - The Washington Post

France: Sarkozy Pulls Ahead of Hollande in First-Round Support - by Mark Deen and Helene Fouquet

French President Nicolas Sarkozy pulled ahead of Socialist Francois Hollande in first-round voting intentions for the first time in the 2012 presidential election campaign, a poll showed. Hollande maintained his lead in second-round support. 

Sarkozy leads in first-round intentions by 28.5 percent to 27 percent, according to a bi-weekly Ifop Fiducial poll for Europe 1 radio, Paris Match and Public Senat. The survey was carried out on March 11 and 12 among a sample of 1,638 people. The margin of error is about 2.1 percentage points.

The survey, taken after Sarkozy called for a “Buy European” act and tougher border controls, suggests that the French leader may be winning over supporters from National Front candidate Marine Le Pen, whose backing fell by one point to 16 percent. Hollande remains ahead in the second round with 54.5 percent, compared with 45.5 percent for Sarkozy.

For more: Sarkozy Pulls Ahead of Hollande in First-Round Support - Businessweek

Poll: Sarkozy least popular leader in Europe.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is the least liked of Europe's top five leaders, a poll showed on Friday, confirming the scale of the challenge facing the conservative candidate weeks ahead of his bid for re-election.

Sarkozy, who badly trails Socialist rival Francois Hollande in polls of French voting intentions, has battled with dire popularity ratings at home for much of his term, but the survey showed he is also less liked than many of his European peers.

Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed held a poor opinion of Sarkozy, compared to 41 percent for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 42 percent for Britain's David Cameron, 36 percent for Italy's Mario Monti and 34 percent for Spain's Mariano Rajoy.

BVA questioned 4,217 people for the poll in France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Britain.

For more: Sarkozy least popular leader in Europe: poll - chicagotribune.com

Sarkozy: Europe Is Turning Page On Financial Crisis - by Gabriele Parussini

-French President Nicolas Sarkozy struck an upbeat tone Friday, saying the euro zone had found the path out of the financial crisis. Earlier Friday, 25 of the European Union's 27 leaders signed the region's new fiscal pact, which imposes stricter rules on deficits and debts.

"We're turning the page on the financial crisis," Sarkozy told a press conference after an EU summit in Brussels. "The strategy we've implemented is bearing fruit." Still, the fiscal accord will need to be complemented by measures to boost growth, Sarkozy added.

"The solution can't only be in budgetary discipline," he said. "It must be found in economic growth and [by] boosting competitiveness."

For more: UPDATE: Sarkozy: Europe Is Turning Page On Financial Crisis - WSJ.com

Low in polls, Sarkozy stakes all on campaign verve

Delivering thundering speeches in three cities that left him worked into a sweat aides had not seen in years, French President Nicolas Sarkozy showed in the first week of his re-election campaign that he has lost none of his oratorical power.

Yet mingling with the public in Lille, a northern city whose bleak backstreets betray its struggle to adapt to the decline of local heavy industry, Sarkozy's eyes flicker restlessly and he looks ill-at-ease, as if he can sense the hostile mood.

The conservative leader is betting on his legendary verve on the campaign trail as he goes into battle with the double handicap of poor poll ratings and the same anger over the sickly economy that has felled leaders across Europe.

For more: Low in polls, Sarkozy stakes all on campaign verve | Reuters

France: President Sarkozy officially declares re-election bid

After weeks of suspense, French President Nicolas Sarkozy officially declared his bid for re-election on Wednesday, saying he wanted to “give French people a voice” and highlighted jobs and the economy as two of his main campaign priorities.

Sarkozy has teased the French public with his reluctance to declare his bid for re-election ahead of the country’s first round of voting on April 22, causing widespread speculation as to when and where he would finally do it. Wednesday’s announcement on French television TF1’s evening news means that the centre-right president has formally entered the race against rival Socialist Party (PS) candidate François Hollande.

“Now the real campaign starts”, French Foreign Minister and Sarkozy ally Alain Juppé told French radio station France Info earlier on Wednesday. “We will have a real debate and see the weaknesses of the Socialist candidate”.

It looks as though the incumbent’s fortunes are possibly changing. According to a February 13th study by French polling centre IPSOS, Sarkozy’s popularity has inched upwards by two points, while Hollande’s has ebbed by four, narrowing the gap between the two candidates.

Sarkozy is expected to reveal his manifesto in France’s port city of Marseille on Sunday.

For more: President Sarkozy officially declares re-election bid - FRANCE - FRANCE 24