In terms of timing, we could hardly do worse. At the National Convention of the Spanish People’s Party (PP, right), – a succession of traveling conferences aimed at ideologically rearming the right and marking the course to follow to win the legislative elections of 2023 -, the guest of honor, this Wednesday 29 September was none other than Nicolas Sarkozy. “What we want is to be inspired by examples of good management, always based on shared principles and values”, declared the young leader of the PP, Pablo Casado, 40, presenting the former French president who came to Madrid to give a conference on “The open society and its enemies”.
The next day, as Mr Sarkozy’s new conviction made headlines on Spanish news and news sites, the ironic comments flooded social media. And all the political parties, from the radical left Podemos to the far right Vox, have also given it their all. “Sarkozy and Casado got to know each other eleven years ago, when their two parties were illegally financing each other”, joked the Socialist deputy Ignacio Lopez Cano on Twitter, referring to the conviction of the PP, in 2018, for having benefited from a network of corruption. For the spokesperson for the liberal Ciudadanos party, Edmundo Bal, the choice to invite Nicolas Sarkozy “Was not very judicious”.
When the former head of state was announced, many analysts were surprised by the invitation “Risky” of a politician “Convicted of corruption and influence peddling in March” and politically “Expired”, who “Represents everything the PP should avoid”. In the corridors of the Spanish PP, then, we almost apologized, ensuring that when he had been invited, his first sentence had not yet been pronounced … Thursday, the error was no longer in doubt.
As for Nicolas Sarkozy, his intention was to spend a few days in Spain, before accompanying Carla Bruni to a concert in Seville on October 7 …
www.lemonde.fr