La France pour la vie (English: "France for life") is a 2016 political memoir by

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

, the former president of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and chairman of The Republicans.

Background

The book is written in the first person, like his 2006 book '' Témoignage'', which was published before he was elected as president. President Sarkozy finished writing this book over the winter break of 2015. He has stressed that this is not a campaign book. The commercial launch of the book is controversial regarding some other members of The Republicans.

Content

In the book, President Sarkozy regrets taking a holiday on Vincent Bolloré's yacht and insulting a

heckler A heckler is a person who harasses and tries to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes. Hecklers are often known to shout encouraging comments at a performance or event, or to interrupt set-piece speeches, with the intent of di ...

at the start of his tenure as president. He adds that he wants to repeal the

35-hour workweek The 35-hour working week is a part of a labour law reform adopted in France in February 2000, under Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's Plural Left government. Pushed by Minister of Labour Martine Aubry, it was adopted in two phases: the "Aubry 1" law ...

and the solidarity tax on wealth. He believes that

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

should remain legal in France. Additionally, Sarkozy writes about his relationships with U.S. President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

and Russian President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

. He also analyzes his policies towards

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

and Georgia.

Marianne (magazine) ''Marianne'' () is a weekly Paris-based French news magazine founded in 1997 by Jean-François Kahn and Maurice Szafran. Its political lean has been described as left-wing sovereigntist. Its redaction chief has been Natacha Polony since 2018. ...

writes a paper titled : "Sarkozy's method to transform your flaws into qualities", analyzing the book and comparing its content to a

job interview A job interview is an interview consisting of a conversation between a job applicant and a representative of an employer which is conducted to assess whether the applicant should be hired. Interviews are one of the most popularly used devices for ...

Errors

Several errors are in the book : * The book mentions a "campaign of a rare violence" between Bush and Obama (page 73) while the Obama campaign was against

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

(

2008 United States presidential election The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from ...

) * " Vincent Bolloré had no contract with the (French) state" (2007) * claims to have decided the launch of a museum in

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

(

Centre Pompidou-Metz The Centre Pompidou-Metz is a museum of Modern art, modern and contemporary art located in Metz, capital of Lorraine (region), Lorraine, France. It is a branch of Centre Georges Pompidou, Pompidou arts centre of Paris, and features semi-permanent ...

), while it was started in 2006 and decided by

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...

* In the book, Sarkozy claims to have "never given up facing street pressure" (that is, never given facing

strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Labor (economics), work. A strike usually takes place in response to grievance (labour), employee grievance ...

and

demonstrations Demonstration may refer to: * Demonstration (acting), part of the Brechtian approach to acting * Demonstration (military), an attack or show of force on a front where a decision is not sought * Demonstration (political), a political rally or prote ...

in the streets), forgetting the taxi reform (recommended by the ) cancelled by taxis strikes. The newspaper

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...

has published a fact checking article regarding some others errors.«La France pour la vie», le livre riche en intox de Nicolas Sarkozy.

, january 26 2016

References

Books about politics of France French-language books Nicolas Sarkozy 2016 non-fiction books Plon (publisher) books {{France-poli-bio-book-stub