Le Temps Des Combats (The Time of Battles)
By Nicolas Sarkozy
(Fayard, 592 pages, $43)
Like clockwork, every time former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012) publishes a new book, his past legal problems resurface. In 2021, I reviewed his delightful cultural treatise Promenades for these pages. While I was engrossed in this beautifully written celebration of France’s visual and performing arts, the author was in the process of being found guilty of exceeding campaign finance limits during his failed 2012 re-election campaign for which he received a suspended three-year prison sentence. Two years later, I feel compelled to review Sarkozy’s Le Temps Des Combats (2023), the second volume in a series dedicated to memorializing his quinquennat. As I write these words, the former occupant of Le Palais de l’Élysée is in court appealing the aforementioned campaign finance violation.
These and other recent calls for compromise with Russia have been roundly criticized for dismissing Russian treachery in its invasion of Ukraine.
Appearing in the Paris Court of Appeals on November 24 Sarkozy continues to proclaim his innocence. “I vigorously deny any criminal responsibility … I deny, and I hope to demonstrate, that I ever had any knowledge of fraud, that I ever asked for fraud or even benefited from fraud … If I didn’t ask for anything, if I didn’t know about it, where’s the intentional offense? … I want the truth.” (READ MORE from Leonora Cravotta: Fauci Lied, People Died: Sen. Rand Paul Dissects the COVID Cover-Up)
Sarkozy has experienced a plethora of legal challenges since his departure from public office including recently levied charges of witness tampering with regard to the alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign. Yet, he remains an influential member of France’s mainstream Republican party and also enjoys a close relationship with the country’s current president Emmanuel Macron. He is well known for his anti-globalist policies and strong opposition to illegal immigration, and he has expressed concerns that the influx of Africans and Asians into Europe will dramatically alter the demographics of the continent. Sarkozy also advances a Malthusian argument that the rapid growth of the global population from 7.5 billion to 11 billion by the end of this century will create instability and resource shortages.
Le Temps Des Combats, a follow-up to the earlier publication Le Temps des Tempêtes (The Time of Storms) (2020) which covers the years 2009-2011 of Sarkozy’s presidency, has garnered a lot of backlash because it advocates for pursuing a diplomatic path with Russia and working with Vladimir Putin. The book also intimates that we should not be just sending a blank check to Ukraine. As Sarkozy writes:
Je pensais que l’Europe serait plus forte avec la Russie. Ce pays-continent n’est pas près de s’effondrer. Chaque fois que, dans l’histoire, nous nous sommes opposés, ce fut une catastrophe. Chaque fois que nous nous sommes compris et alliés, ce fut pour le bénéfice de tous.
La nécessité de défendre l’Ukraine ne modifie pas les intérêts stratégiques de l’Europe et de la Russie, qui devront se parler à nouveau et se réconcilier si elles veulent éviter une catastrophique nouvelle guerre mondiale.
Translation:
I think that Europe will be much stronger with Russia. This country-continent is not going to collapse. Each time in history, when we opposed each other, it was a catastrophe. Each time, we understood each other and were allies, it was for the benefit of all.
The necessity of defending the Ukraine does not change the strategic interests of Europe and Russia which should speak to each other again and reconcile if they want to avoid a catastrophic new world war.
These and other recent calls for compromise with Russia have been roundly criticized for dismissing Russian treachery in its invasion of Ukraine, and his call to remember the Soviet role in helping the Allies in World War II seems similarly obtuse. But his concerns about a wider European conflict, his recommendation of a diplomatic approach to Ukraine, and his insistence that Ukraine remain a neutral country and that it not be admitted into NATO seem prescient now that leaders in Germany and France are apparently beginning to lean in that direction. His view that the Russian people should not be disparaged or experience prejudice for the actions of Putin reflects Sarkozy’s admirable sense of fair play.
Since Le Temps des Combats is ultimately a memoir, Sarkozy uses close to 600 pages to highlight his achievements and challenges on both the international and domestic stage. Since his five-year term coincided with the global financial crises of 2008 and 2011, when he also served as the president of both the G-8 and the G-20 summits, the author emphasizes his role in advancing measures to stabilize global markets, to stem inflation and to integrate a moral dimension to the management of capital resources. (READ MORE: From Deconstruction to Wokeness: French Conservatives Fight Back)
Sarkozy also speaks bluntly about France’s role in various international conflicts. He admits some regret that France did not engage in either the Egyptian or Tunisian revolutions and acknowledges that he was subsequently persuaded by the philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy to deploy French forces in support of the take-down of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
In domestic affairs, Sarkozy claims several accomplishments. In order to avoid the looming pension funding crisis, he successfully raised France’s legal retirement age from 60 to 62 during his mandate, a struggle that President Macron now finds himself in as he attempts to raise the retirement age further to 64 by 2030.
Sarkozy is additionally credited with reforming France’s universities to make them more globally competitive, primarily through the Universities Freedom and Responsibility (LRU) law, which transferred organizational control from the state to the university leadership. This provided greater institutional autonomy with regard to budgetary matters, recruitment, staff compensation, and other administrative affairs. Sarkozy also further advanced the role of the university as a research center by cultivating industrial partnerships through the Operation Campus program. In 2009, he established Initiatives d’Excellence (IDEX) which focuses on achieving pedagogical excellence and global competitiveness.
Le Temps des Combats is peppered with the former president’s reflections about his various official visits and the people he has met. There is a description of a 2010 visit to the Obama White House where he observed President Obama’s daughters doing their homework. During that same visit, he delivered a speech at Columbia University where he responded to a student’s question about the recently implemented Affordable Care Act by quipping that France already had universal healthcare.
Sarkozy who has a passion for the arts writes in detail about the joy he experienced when meeting artists whose work he admired. For instance, during an official visit to Armenia, he was delighted to have an audience with the legendary Armenian singer Charles Aznavour. The former president is a proponent of paying homage to France’s history as is evidenced by his specific pilgrimages such as his journey to Montboudif, the South Central France birthplace of French President Georges Pompidou (1969-1974). (READ MORE from Leonora Cravotta: Education Under Siege: Two New Books Discuss the Ongoing Battle)
The book includes important personal moments such as the birth of his daughter Giulia in 2011. His wife, singer Carla Bruni, gave birth to Sarkozy’s fourth child — and only daughter — while he was attending a meeting in Frankfurt on the Eurozone debt crisis. Sarkozy crows that he was the first French president to become a father while in office, but it didn’t come without controversy: Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally party, criticized the couple for giving their child an Italian name instead of a French one.
Sarkozy continues to be an influential albeit controversial, political figure. His latest book Le Temps des Combats is a thoroughly engaging book that provides a deeper insight into this bold individual who despite his legal dilemmas, continues to enjoy immense popularity in France and à l’étranger.