Sarkozy accused Juppe of having lied to him

If the marriages of convenience are better that the marriage of passion, the alliance between Nicolas Sarkozy and Alain Juppe has beautiful days before it. And will be one of the tools of a presidential rebound. Agreement in November, reinforced Sunday, it reveals a mutual interest which eventually prevail at the end of a history as long as complicated. Where the mutual irritation appeared to be the only clue of their relations.

The President of the Republic had need of the strength of the Mayor of Bordeaux to regain credibility in the maelstrom of bad polls. Former Prime Minister needed ministerial supply of his cadet to escape the idleness of a quiet but deadly retreat. Juppe has paid cash: this long that he had not heard so much praise. Sarkozy has a year to achieve the political benefits of his tense hand. Finally, the two enemy brothers in chiraquisme - the favorite son and the rebel son - use to another lifeline.

In this unexpected hitch a few months yet, lucidity is guarantee of strength. The two men were of great emotional, each in its own way, they both learned of Jacques Chirac that the political survival takes precedence over the self-esteem.

At least they never did appear. In the month of August, sought to return to the Government, Alain Juppé pretended to hesitate before Nicolas Sarkozy "get on the"Titanic". How to tell him more insolence: "this time, it is you that you have need of me" Proud of his good word, it earlier to journalists, before which does not hide his opposition to the safe turn President took once again with his speech in Grenoble.

In other words, it is with Sarkozy which it had so much annoyed at his home: report outside his private interviews. It is said that these "conditions" publicly set forth by his predecessor at the head of the UMP have upset the head of State. "Juppe, it's him who had managed both to back down on reforms and to 2 million people in the street", maugréait, building on its success on pensions. "He embodies this right the French hate." A confidence made less than 15 days prior to the number 2 of his Government. "Of course, he tells anything", Juppe retorted with a same annoyance that does, however, not dissuaded him to ride on the "Titanic"...

After all, this mode of relationship is not new among themselves. March 2002, in full campaign for the re-election of Jacques Chirac, the two men believe in their future. They ate breakfast in head to head. The next day, "Le Figaro" reported a deal: Juppe will support the candidacy of Sarkozy at Matignon. the second will help the first to take the Presidency of the UMP is preparing. Stupor in Chiraquie, where the implementation Jean-Pierre Raffarin orbit is already programmed. The Mayor of Bordeaux enrage: "this type is really impossible." It cannot say anything it unless it is found in the press. "Sarkozy accused Juppe of having lied to him. Juppe criticized Sarkozy for having betrayed him.

January 30, 2004. The Minister of the Interior is on the move in Corsica when he learns the conviction of former Secretary General of the RPR to 18-month suspended prison sentence and ten years of ineligibility in case of fictitious jobs in the Party of Jacques Chirac. It was expected the cynical relief of those who saw exile a dangerous rival on the path to the Elysee. There is instead cold anger of a Nicolas Sarkozy denied the battle that he was sure to win: "the problem of Juppe, it is not justice, he is. Never the French do elect it in the Elysee Palace. "Her delight the UMP, he in dreamed. But thanks to activists. Step to the judges.

Anecdotes that belong to the past Of course, but this story has left them sufficiently lucid on the other to not build their new relationship on illusions. Each, now intends to take advantage of the other, in an agreement "winner" winner

Sounded by its defeat in the legislative elections of 2007, slowly overtaken by vital - he celebrated his sixty-five years on August 15, 2010-, Alain Juppe has, by his own admission, before the redesign of last November as the "last train" that can lead to the forefront of political life. A few days were sufficient for that elected him wanted after the strikes of 1995 and the defeat of 1997, and the press who had abandoned him, him hunt again Kudos, as at the time of its first happy years at the Quai d'Orsay. The sage of Bordeaux, respected but held at distance of Paris, became the darling of a media-policy system always for "value" to the bare. Thanks Sarkozy Juppe is too proud to think that this return to grace is something only to its own merits.

Nicolas Sarkozy sees on his side, and for the first time ever, a choice to his credit. Including on the left. If he manages to save its foreign policy, it will be partly due to the image of the new tenant of the Quai d'Orsay. Thanks Juppe The head of State is too proud to think that a possible rebound takes to anything other than to its own merits.

The triumph of Juppe has another virtue of relativising the François Fillon, three months ago. In the aftermath of the redesign, the rivalry between the Prime Minister and the new leader of the UMP, Jean-François Copé, appeared at the big day. That this battle is now plays three, a "quadra", a "quinqua", a "split", is not to displease to the President of the Republic. The plurality of the alternatives is the best protection for 2012.