Chapter One: Political BeginningsFew political families are as affected by their history as Gaullism. Because of the experience of war and the solidarity born of the Resistance, this is understandable. In fact, however, recent generations of Gaullist leaders did not live through these events, and yet nothing has really changed. Nostalgia for the past, the love of epic stories, and the presence in the party of mythical and charismatic speakers are all part of the Gaullist legacy.
I remain, sometimes despite myself, deeply affected by this history. I have my favorite memories and its hard to stop me from bringing them up. One such example is my first participation in a party conference of the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR)the name of the Gaullist movement in the mid-1970swhich remains etched in my memory down to the smallest detail. It was in 1975, in Nice. I had arrived, like many other party organizers, on the overnight train. It was my first visit to the city that has since remained my favorite. It was hot, the sun was shining, and the young ladies of Nice looked almost perfect to my twenty-year-old eyes. My heart was beating even harder at the thought that the following day I would have the honor of getting up on the stage to give my first speech.
It would, admittedly, be a morning speech, and the amount of time allotted for meless than five minuteswas not exactly likely to make my appearance the highlight of the conference. But it felt that way to me! I had had a really short night. I couldnt sleep because the idea of giving my first speech kept spinning around in my head. I had written my text on both sides of a piece of paper, violating speechmaking rules that I knew nothing about.
Entering the room Sunday morning, I could hardly breathe. Everything was enormous. It was all much bigger than I had imagined. I particularly remember the stage and the speakers podium that looked like the stern of a ship, really high up. This was an era in which the choreography and decor had to be magnificent. Proximity to the people didnt seem to be the highest priority. My heart was beating as never before, yet I wouldnt have given up my spot for anything in the world. I was excited and terrified at the same time.
Jacques Chirac was at the time prime minister and leader of the Gaullist movement. He was chairing the conference. Ten minutes before it was my turn to speak, they came to tell me to be ready to go onstage. I was sitting there on a stool that I remember was wobblyand I was already wondering if this was a bad sign. Then Jacques Chirac called to me: “Are you Sarkozy? You are speaking for five minutes, and you wont be given a minute more than that, understood?” I went along willingly, without really having understood what had been said to me. My final memory is the moment when, for the first time, I found myself standing behind the podium. I was blinded by the light of the projectors and surprised by the sound of my amplified voice. Curiously, I dont remember anything about what happened later on this day that would determine the orientation of my life. Its as if all that mattered was the starting point.
After this first meeting with Jacques Chirac, I was with him for all the big battles over the following fifteen years. These included the creation of the Rally for the Republic (RPR) in 1976; his conquest of the Paris mayors office in 1977; the legislative elections of 1978; his first failed presidential run in 1981 (when I was head of the National Youth Committee in favor of his candidacy); and his second failed attempt in 1988 (when I organized the main campaign meetings). Since I was too young and not yet in Parliament, I didnt play much of a role when the right was in power from 1986 to 1988, with Chirac as prime minister.
My political journey was a lot harder than people have often said and even than I have admitted. A lot of political leaders have found their vocation by working in a ministerial cabinet right after graduating from the National Administration School (ENA). It is much rarer to start as a grassroots party organizer and climb your way up, but thats the route I took. I was secretary for my constituency, then regional treasurer, then a leader of my regionI served at practically every basic level possible. It wasnt until ten years after I first started in politics that I became mayor of Neuilly, after the sudden death of my predecessor, Achille Peretti.
During all these years, Jacques Chirac and Charles Pasquaa leading figure in the RPRoften asked me to work directly for our political movement, but I always energetically refused. This was because for as long as I can remember I saw working for a party to be like being in an intellectual prison, cut off from all freedom of choice. In this case, material dependence inevitably leads to political dependence. And I wanted to preserve my political freedom at all costs.
Thus I was never a paid employee either of the RPR or of Jacques Chirac. And that turned out well, because in 1983, the RPR didnt support me when I ran for mayor of Neuilly. In my path was none other than Charles Pasqua, already a senior Gaullist politician. I am grateful to Chirac, who didnt back me, for not having done anything to stop me from being a candidate, even though I was only twenty-eight years old. This independence also served me well a second time, in 1988, when I decided to run for Parliament against the incumbent deputy Florence dHarcourt, to whom Chirac had already pledged the RPRs support.
When I won, I became a member of Parliament for the first time. And it was only at this time that I began to hold political responsibility alongside Chirac. Ill address my complex relationship with Jacques Chirac later in this book. But what I want to say here is that when I was at his side for all these political battles I was totally committed. This is the way I am. I have trouble imagining any sort of commitment other than total. Given Chiracs role in shaping the history of the Gaullist movement, its only natural I have often been at his side.
I say “often,” but not “always,” as there have been exceptions, most notably in 1995. So much has been said about this that everyone still remembers it. Everything has been said, written, told, commented, imagined, and exaggerated to the point that the caricature has ended up being the reality, or at least the perceived reality. I want to talk about it here to give my version of events that I lived through passionately. After all, I think I have at least as much right to talk about them as a number of interested bystanders. I am under no illusion that Ill be able to convince people of my version of events. The facts are now old and the images in peoples minds are very strong.
But I still want to give my version, once and for all. Those who, like me, supported Edouard Balladur rather than Jacques Chirac for president in 1995 have paid the price for having lost. The rules of democracy are clear. If you lose youre wrong, and if you win youre right. Thats just the way it is. It serves no purpose to challenge this, its the price of democracy.
At the beginning of the 1990s, everything was simple. Jacques Chirac needed Edouard Balladur to win the presidential election, and Balladur needed Chirac to become prime ministeror at least to get some other high position. I was working for and with both of them. As lawyers would say, there was no conflict of interest at the time.
Thus from 1988 until 1993, while organizing the annual meeting of the opposition along with another RPR politician, Alain Madelin, I was working relentlessly on what would become the platform of the opposition that would win the 1993 legislative elections. I owe this new direction in my political life to Edouard Balladur. Until then, my political repertoire consisted only of power plays, applause lines, ready-made ideas, and putting my inexhaustible energy behind Jacques Chirac.
Working with Balladur, even though I was very different from him, I discovered several things: the advantages of compromise, tolerance, respect for skepticism, a profound commitment to consensus (or at least a strong aversion to conflict), and a healthy detachment from people and events. In short, I felt able to use new forces and to rise to a new level. I was grateful to Balladur for having considered me to be up to crossing this threshold. In contrast, a weakness of Jacques Chirac is to always want to place people around him in a box from which, if theyre not careful, theyll never reemerge.
A First Taste of Power
After winning the legislative elections of 1993, the question was whether I was going to join the government or instead take over from Alain Juppé as secretary general of the RPR. Jacques Chirac wanted me to take over the party, while Edouard Balladur wanted me to join the government. I wanted to join the government so badly that I had no trouble convincing Chirac to accept this, and I entered the government as Minister for the Budget.
Then it was time to act. For two years, I learned and evolved all the more because in government there is always some battle to be waged, some crisis to resolve, or some challenge to meet. I could thus use all my energy, with the only limit being my physical strength. Since not so many of us in government worked like this, I ended up taking on even greater responsibilities than the already significant ones Balladur initially gave me. I was all for it. The prime minister needed me. Our cooperation and agreement developed further each time we had a crisis to manage together.