Macron calling snap elections could leave France in chaos, Sarkozy warns

Ex-president says decision to hold vote after upheaval of European parliamentary ballot is ‘major risk’ for country

Emmanuel Macron has been warned by a former French president that his decision to call snap elections could plunge France into chaos, as his centrist party languishes third in opinion polls, far behind the far-right National Rally.

Nicolas Sarkozy said dissolving the national assembly was “a major risk” for France, “because it could plunge it into chaos, from which it will have the greatest difficulty emerging”.

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Nicolas Sarkozy’s jail term halved in illegal campaign funds case

Appeal court sentence on hold after lawyer says former president will contest guilty verdict at France’s highest court

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been given a six-month jail term on appeal, after being found guilty of illegal campaign financing for the vast, showman-style political rallies of his 2012 re-election attempt.

The Paris court of appeal confirmed a lower court’s guilty verdict for Sarkozy, who was convicted of hiding illegal overspending in the presidential election he lost to the Socialist candidate François Hollande.

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Nicolas Sarkozy must wear electronic tag, appeals court rules

French court upholds sentence against ex-president in corruption case, saying he must serve one-year’s detention at home

A French appeals court has upheld a prison sentence against the former president Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption and influence-peddling – maintaining he should serve one-year’s detention at home with an electronic bracelet.

Sarkozy was originally convicted in 2021 of trying to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated. It was the first time in modern French history that a former president was given a prison sentence for corruption. He had appealed against the verdict.

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French prosecutors demand Sarkozy face trial over alleged Libya money

Former president is accused of seeking millions of euros from Gaddafi to finance his 2007 campaign

French prosecutors have demanded that the former president Nicolas Sarkozy face a new trial over alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 election campaign.

France’s financial crimes prosecutors (PNF) said on Thursday that Sarkozy and 12 others should face trial over accusations they sought millions of euros in financing from the regime of the then Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, for his ultimately victorious campaign.

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Nicolas Sarkozy attacks ‘shockingly unjust’ corruption conviction

Ex-French president vows to take case to European court of human rights if appeal does not succeed

Days after his conviction for corruption and influence peddling, Nicolas Sarkozy has said he will take the battle to clear his name to the European court of human rights if he does not win on appeal.

The former French president described a Paris court’s verdict on Monday and the three-year prison sentence he was given (two years suspended) as “profoundly and shockingly unjust”.

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Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to jail for corruption

Sarkozy found guilty of corruption and influence peddling but is unlikely to spend time in prison

When the verdict came, it reduced the Paris court to a stunned silence: Nicolas Sarkozy was guilty of corruption and influence peddling, and sentenced to three years in prison, two of them suspended.

France’s president from 2007 to 2012 had played an “active role” in forging a “corruption pact” with his lawyer and a senior magistrate to obtain information on a separate investigation into political donations, the leading judge declared, and there was “serious and concurring evidence” of collaboration between the three men to break the law.

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Sarkozy hit by claims ex-wife was given fake €3,000-a-month job

Former French president denies accusation that role given to second wife Cécilia Attias was ‘fictitious’

Nicolas Sarkozy has been hit by claims his ex-wife was given a well-paid fictitious job as a part-time parliamentary assistant while he was in government.

Cécilia Attias, the former French president’s second wife, was reportedly employed as an assistant to the woman who stood in for Sarkozy as a centre-right MP in the national assembly when he was promoted to interior minister under president Jacques Chirac in 2002.

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Nicolas Sarkozy corruption trial: co-defendant wants Covid postponement

Former French president is accused of corruption and influence peddling

Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, will make history on Monday afternoon when he goes on trial accused of corruption and influence peddling for allegedly trying to bribe a judge for information.

His appearance in court is likely to be brief; one of his co-defendants claims the coronavirus makes it too risky for him to appear and has asked judges to postpone the hearing again.

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French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy to stand trial in October

Sarkozy is accused of trying to obtain classified information from a judge in 2014

Nicolas Sarkozy will become France’s first former president to stand trial on corruption charges in a case in which he is accused of trying to obtain classified information from a judge.

The trial will start on 5 October 2020 and will last until 22 October, a Paris court said.

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Tall tales: Paris Match explains Sarkozy’s growth spurt in photo

After much derision, magazine says 5ft 5in ex-president was on step above wife, Carla Bruni

As soon as this week’s cover of Paris Match magazine featuring Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni was released, the questions began: how was the diminutive former French president seemingly taller than his towering wife?

The front-page photoshoot might have sparked speculation the 64-year-old rightwinger was thinking of a political comeback, coming hot on the heels of his new book called Passions, which has become a summer bestseller.

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WikiLeaks to Trump: ‘Obama Already Did it to the French’, …

Responding to a tweet from President Donald Trump, WikiLeaks pointed out that the Obama administration ordered the CIA to hack Marine Le Pen and other candidates during the French election in 2012. In response, WikiLeaks noted that his presidential campaign wasn't the first one to be targeted, as "Obama already did it to the French."

Macron Hailed as European Unifier, but Reality Remains Elusive

After failing to coax Washington to stick with the Iran nuclear deal, and facing protests at home over his labor and pension reforms, French President Emmanuel Macron may find solace Thursday in Germany, where he will be given a prestigious European award for another key ambition: far-reaching goals to reform and revamp the European Union. The Charlemagne Prize, which he will receive in the German spa town of Aachen, remains more of an aspirational nod to Macron's European ambitions than his ability to actually unify the region.

not Real News: No court order for Obama to pay $400 million

An online story falsely claims a federal appeals court ordered former President Barack Obama to pay $400 million in "restitution" to the United States for money supposedly lost in a transaction with "hard-liners" in Iran. The Daily World Update article cites a nonexistent West Texas Federal Appeals Court for the 33rd District; there is no federal appeals court in Texas.

Macron and Le Pen: How two outsiders defeated France’s political elite

A political novice who has never before stood for elected office is facing off against a far-right nationalist from the fringes of French politics -- it's safe to say France's presidential election is one for the history books. Voters collectively turned up their noses at the political establishment Sunday, in the first round of the French presidential election.

10 things you need to know before European markets open

German chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with U.S. president Barack Obama at Schloss Elmau hotel near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany, Monday June 8, 2015 during the G-7 summit. Nicolas Sarkozy has dropped out of the race to be next French president.

Race wide open as France ticks down to presidential primaries

The race to become the conservative candidate for the French presidency and likely favourite to win the presidential election itself next year looked tighter than it has for months on Friday with voting due to start in less than 48 hours. Ahead of Sunday's vote - which will put two people forward to a run-off second round a week later - centrist ex-prime minister Alain Juppe was holding onto a shrinking lead.