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Ex-French president Nicolas Sarkozy ‘arrested over campaign financing’ Video

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PARIS,

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was taken into police custody on Tuesday for questioning over suspected Libyan financing of his 2007 election campaign, a source close to the inquiry told AFP.

Sarkozy, 63, had until now refused to respond to a summons for questioning in the case, which drew heightened scrutiny last November when a businessman admitted delivering three cash-stuffed suitcases from the Libyan leader as contributions towards the French leader’s first presidential bid.

GADDAFI

Sarkozy’s detention was first reported by the Mediapart investigative news site and French daily Le Monde and comes several weeks after a former associate, Alexandre Djouhri, was arrested in London and later released on bail.

Djouhri was returned to pre-trial detention in February after France issued a second warrant for his arrest, ahead of a hearing scheduled for March 28.

A source close to the inquiry also said that Brice Hortefeux, a top government minister during Sarkozy’s presidency, was also questioned Tuesday as part of the inquiry.

Before his arrest in January, Djouhri, a 59-year-old Swiss resident, was well known among France’s rightwing political establishment, and had refused to respond to summons for questioning in Paris.

He has been a focus of the inquiry opened in 2013 by judges investigating earlier claims by late Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi and his son Seif al-Islam that they provided funds for Sarkozy’s election effort.

Sarkozy has dismissed the allegations as the claims of vindictive Libyan regime members furious over his participation in the US-led military intervention that ended Kadhafi’s 41-year rule.

Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine said he had made three trips from Tripoli to Paris in late 2006 and early 2007 with cash for Sarkozy’s campaign.

Each time he carried a suitcase containing 1.5 to 2.0 million euros in 200-euro and 500-euro notes, Takieddine claimed in a French media interview, saying he was given the money by Kadhafi’s military intelligence chief Abdallah Senussi.

Source: https://www.nation.co.ke/news/world/French-ex-presidentNicolas-Sarkozy-arrested/1068-4349458-tno2ef/index.html

 

Paris: Nicolas Sarkozy receives a delegation of Armenian associations and personalities

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sarkozy-armenianAs part of its campaign for the primary right, Nicolas Sarkozy received Monday, November 14 at his headquarters in the rue de l’Université a delegation of Armenian personalities and associations in the Paris region. The meeting took place a few days after his visit, Wednesday, November 9 at the National Armenian memory Décines Centre, where he had addressed a panel of local Armenian representatives, Raffi Krikorian, president of the CFC in the Lyon region.

In Paris, Ara Toranian, national co-chair of CCAF, took the first speech in minutes to expose the feelings of the French of Armenian origin in relation to this campaign and their concerns about the precarious conditions in which continues to be the Armenian entity 100 years after the genocide. He mentioned in particular the situation in Nagorno Karabakh, a real strategic and civilizational lock, whose survival guaranteed not only that of Armenia but also represented a security for Europe. He renewed the request for a Center of Civilization and Memory in Paris, indispensable for the perpetuation of an Armenian identity that we must all the more defend that it was the target of an enterprise of extermination. He finally reaffirmed his refusal of Turkey’s entry into Europe.

The very frank discussion with the former President of the Republic also spoke of the commitment of some personalities who are close to him and whose unclear ties with the Azerbaijani dictatorship are no longer to be demonstrated. On this issue as on all the others, Nicolas Sarkozy was very direct and answered the questions of all the participants. He asserted himself as the leader of his camp, hammering that it was he who set the course of his campaign and not his supporters, whose decisions he did not necessarily endorse or automatically approve. He recalled that all his rivals at the primary had been his close collaborators, which did not prevent them being today with him in an internal competition. He mentioned his commitments and especially his actions as President of the Republic, which for him remain more talkable than promises. He particularly remembered that when he was voting for the law criminalizing denial of the Armenian genocide, Alain Juppe and Fillon were vehemently against the law and had to scrap with his ministers to keep his word Towards the Armenian community.

He also said his very old opposition to the entry of Turkey into Europe, contrary to the position of the Socialists and Francois Hollande, which he said were for and continues to be. He also said that he had fought at the time of Jacques Chirac against his own camp, in particular Jean-Louis Debré, to block the favorable trend in Ankara. For Nicolas Sarkozy, there can be no difficulty between him and the Armenians of France whose French patriotism he hailed and the attachment to their cause which is also that of the Republic.

Referring to the issue of genocide, he said he would refuse to trivialize its meaning. According to him, there were only 4 genocides, the Armenians, the Jews, the Cambodians, and the Tutsi. The genocidal dimension of the Armenian drama makes the defense of the identity of this people a universal struggle. Bearing in mind the indifference of the media and sometimes their hostility towards the Armenian cause, he drew parallels with his personal situation and invited the Armenians to remain faithful to what they are, to continue their journey and to Not to worry about these negative comments, especially those who have spoken out against penalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide.

Tuesday 15 November 2016,
Ara © armenews.com

Frexit Friction: What Does Sarkozy Mean Talking About New European Treaty?

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FRexit sarkoziOn Sunday, amid the fallout of the British vote to leave the EU, former French President Nikolas Sarkozy, the leader of the center-right Republicans party, proposed a French referendum on a new European Treaty. Meanwhile, former Sarkozy cabinet minister and Republicans’ member Alain Juppe seemed to suggest that such a move would be ‘irresponsible’.

In a Sunday interview with the French television channel France 2, Sarkozy suggested that a French referendum on a new European treaty could be possible before the end of the year, adding that “we must not be afraid of the people.” In apparent response, speaking to Le Monde on Monday, Alain Juppe suggested that “holding a referendum in France today would be totally irresponsible.”

Asked whether the apparent divergence of opinion indicates a split in the party, Republicans MEP Constance Le Grip told Sputnik that Mr. Juppe’s remarks have been misunderstood.

“Mr. Sarkozy reintroduced his proposal to reform the European Union,” the politician said. “After the victory of Brexit, it’s impossible to pretend that nothing happened. We must return to a new project, given that the people no longer support the current European project. The new treaty would be ratified in France only by referendum.”

As for Mr. Juppe’s comments, Le Grip explained that “when Alain Juppe said that it would be irresponsible to hold a referendum at the moment, he was not speaking of the referendum proposed by Mr. Sarkozy. Mr. Juppe was referring to the referendum of the kind which just took place in the UK, the one which Ms. Marine Le Pen is insisting on: on membership in the European Union. Such a referendum would be totally irresponsible, and Mr. Sarkozy agrees with this view.”

At the same time, Le Grip explained, like Sarkozy, Juppe “also advocates for reform: for the reform of the European project.”

On Sunday, speaking to Le Journal du Dimanche, and commenting  on the political situation in Europe following Brexit, Sarkozy said that if he was the French leader in the present situation, he “would suggest that France and Germany put on the table to the heads of state and government [of the European Union] a draft five-point plan prohibiting the Brussels technocracy from turning into a legal monster.”

He added that he would propose that the leaders of the 27 EU member nations gather for a three day meeting with the aim of jointly developing a “simple, clear” project and policy, including a Euro-Schengen II and the harmonization of social assistance for foreigners, requiring five years of residence to qualify and no benefits for illegals.

Perhaps most significantly, Sarkozy suggested that the new basic treaty, put up to referendum, should limit “Europe’s powers to a maximum of ten strategic priorities.” Finally, the new treaty would need to “clearly say that the enlargement of Europe is finished,” ending “the hypocrisy which prevails today in our relations which Turkey, which is not intended to enter Europe.”

On Friday, soon after the results of the Brexit referendum became clear, Sarkozy suggested that “the European Union can no longer function as before. Its deep restructuring is urgent and had to be considered long ago. In this regard, I call on the EU heads of state and governments to decide to devise a new basic treaty, which will demonstrate to our people that Europe is ready to take their destiny into their own hands.”

On the eve of the Brexit referendum, the politician insisted that a joint Franco-German initiative would have to be made “in the coming months,” regardless of the results, aimed a fundamental rethink of the EU project.

Meanwhile, over the weekend, speaking with major French opposition leaders about the results of Brexit, President Francois Hollande met with Front National leader Marine Le Pen, who asked him to hold a referendum similar to that held in the UK on France’s future in the supranational union.  

“We have called for the implementation of a referendum to ask the French if they want to remain in the European Union. He said no,” Le Pen told journalists, adding that she was disappointed with the president’s remarks. “It’s almost as though we said a dirty word; the people have really become the last wheel of the cart.”

On Thursday, the UK held a referendum to determine whether or not the country should leave the EU. According to the final results, 51.9% of voters, or 17.4 million people, decided to support Brexit, while about 16.1 million opposed it. Total voter turnout was 72.2%.

France: Sarkozy (LR) of the EU: the worst would Brexit and the accession of Turkey

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arton126526-480x360Paris, May 17, 2016 (AFP) – Nicolas Sarkozy said in an interview published Tuesday on the website of the World, that “the worst” for the European Union “would Brexit and the accession of Turkey,” and advocates a new treaty “which France must be initiated as early as summer 2017”.

“The worst would be the Brexit + + and the accession of Turkey would have made the grand slam of the error! But Brexit + + or not, it will, in all cases, deeply rebuild the European project, and it will pass by a treaty which France must be initiated by the summer of 2017, “said the former president of the Republic.

The issue of maintaining or not the United Kingdom within the bloc of 28 EU countries is subject to referendum June 23. “The debate on Brexit + + is an opportunity to rebuild Europe. I regret that Francois Hollande has not made any proposals upstream, “he told Mr Sarkozy, who also criticized the EU-Turkey agreement on refugees.

“To think that Turkey can sustainably manage and solve these problems is a mistake. Europe can she trust a Turkish power, which evolves more and more towards an authoritarian regime? I dispute it, “he said.

“It is not the fact of having + + hot spots in Turkey that I dispute in the agreement with that country, it is the abolition of visas, irresponsible in the current security climate, and the revival of negotiations membership, incomprehensible, given the evolution of the Turkish power over civil liberties, “insists the President of Republicans (LR).

“I will not criticize Merkel and German politics. But what shocked me is to see Merkel negotiating alone with the Turkish government. Where was Mr. Holland? Where is the voice of France? When Barack Obama came to Europe, he met the Chancellor in Germany, after stopping in the UK. Does France have disappeared from the diplomatic card? What a humiliation! “, Accused Mr. Sarkozy.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016,
Ara © armenews.com

France: AGREEMENT EU-TURKEY Sarkozy “strongly opposed” to the lifting of visas

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arton123479-480x264Paris, (AFP) – Nicolas Sarkozy said he was “totally opposed” to the lifting of visas for Turkish citizens wishing to travel to the EU, while being interrogated by iTELE on the sealed agreement Friday in Brussels between the EU and Turkey on the issue of migrants.

“I am totally opposed to the lifting of visas for 80 million Turks,” he told the party president Republicans.

“Finally!, Was he surprised. It says Europeans need to redo Schengen Schengen that exploded, there is a (pressure) migration huge and the first decision that we would do is to abolish visas for a country of 80 million people who is not a member of the European Union? “.

“This is blackmail. It does not make sense, “he pressed. “Abolish visas for Turkish businessmen, I can perfectly understand, that removes visas for students, I can perfectly understand, but say 80 million Turks, now there more visas, it does not make sense. “

“I do not see the connection between the question of Syria and the migration of war refugees and (that) of the Turkish accession” to the EU, stressed Nicolas Sarkozy.

“Turkey is a bridge between Asia and Europe. Turkey does not intend to join Europe, “he concluded.

Sunday, March 20, 2016,
Ara © armenews.com

NICOLAS SARKOZY IN FRENCH OVERSEAS “I’m for the criminalization of denial of the Armenian genocide”

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image-14-465x290-465x290Nicolas Sarkozy, who was Wednesday night with Manuel Valls the guest of honor at the dinner Crefom (Representative Committee of French Overseas), reaffirmed his support for a law criminalizing denial of the Armenian genocide. In his introductory speech, Patrick Karam, president of Crefom, asked a series of questions to his guests, including one on their position on a possible extension of the Gayssot law in denial of the Armenian genocide and slavery. In his speech, former President of the Republic then grabbed up the ball for recall, with conviction, his positon on the subject.

The voluntary evocation of the principled position of Nicolas Sarkozy on the issue outside the Armenian context, that it was under his mandate had been voted the Boyer Act, which was eventually censured by the Constitutional Council, chaired by the the time by Jean-Louis Debre. This invalidation took place in an extremely tense between France and Turkey climate. The diplomatic situation between the two countries has since normalized, whereas this penalty law promised by the left yet to find a realization, a year before the end of term François Hollande.

Several hundred people attended the second dinner of the French overseas, including many problematics similar to those of the Armenians. Also participating in the evening a wide range of personalities among whom were Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Minister of Education, Mrs Valérie Pécresse, President of the Ile-de-France, as well as co-chairs of CCAF, Mourad Papazian and Ara Toranian.

Sarkozy to meet Putin as French right looks to Russia

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13052015 nicolas sarkozy_3_0Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy flew to Moscow Wednesday where he is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the latest sign the French right is seeking closer ties with the Kremlin in defiance of François Hollande’s government.

Sarkozy is due to meet with the Russian President on Wednesday accompanied by a cohort of senior members of his Les Républicains party – France’s centre-right main opposition party that was until recently known as the UMP.

The two men are set to hold an “exchange of views … on bilateral relations”, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by Russian state media. Top of the bill “is likely to be Syria”, he added.

The visit comes at a time of tense relations between Russia and the West, not least France, over Moscow’s military intervention in Syria where it has been accused of targeting moderate rebel forces, along with Islamic Stage group militants, in support of Putin’s ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Sarkozy: Hollande’s Russia policy ‘risks new cold war’

Hollande’s government has been one of the strongest Western opponents of involving Assad in any solution to the Syria conflict – a position that has put Paris at loggerheads with the Kremlin.

Russia was conspicuously absent from a meeting on Syria hosted by Paris on Tuesday, that included representatives from Germany, the UK, Saudi Arabia and the US.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine has also been a thorn in the side of relations between Paris and Moscow – one that led Hollande to scrap the sale to Russia of two French-built warships last year, a deal that was signed off by Sarkozy during his 2007–2012 presidency.

Sarkozy, along with others on the right of French politics, have become increasingly critical of Hollande’s hardline stance with Russia and have repeatedly called for a more conciliatory approach.

Sarkozy’s Russian trip, according to one party member, is designed to deliver a “particular message” to Putin.

That message is that “Europe must maintain a dialogue with Russia and that France, within Europe, has an important role to play, one it has not been playing for a long time”, Les Républicains MP Thierry Mariani told France Info radio.

Sarkozy himself recently accused Hollande of “a serious error of creating conditions for a new cold war with Russia”, a line that has also been used by far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen in criticising the French government’s dealings with Moscow.

French right’s ‘fascination with Putin’

Others within Les Républicains have called for France to cooperate with Russia over Syria, including working with Assad.

Russia has been “maligned so stupidly these last few years”, wrote Les Républicains former prime minister François Fillon in a recent blog post. “The time has come for France to revise its diplomatic strategy [in Syria].”

At the same time, a recent Ifop poll for French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche found that Putin is considerably more popular with right-wing voters. While the survey found negative opinions of the Russian leader were still the norm among the majority, 24 percent of Les Républicains supporters and 37 percent of National Front supporters said they had a “good opinion” of Putin, compared to 19 percent among supporters of Hollande’s Socialist Party (PS).

“There is a sort of fascination among the French right with Putin’s authoritarian regime, which explains [Sarkozy’s] visit,” Bruno Le Roux, leader of the PS in parliament, told France Info Wednesday.

However, he admitted there could be a certain “usefulness” to the former president’s meeting with Putin.

“Everyone has the right to talk,” he later told the AFP news agency. “There is a usefulness in maintaining relationships with all countries.”

“At the same time, in these sorts of moments, the position of France, the position which is that of Europe, must be kept in mind.

Source: French24