希拉克夫人：萨科齐有意2017年参选总统

据英国《每日电讯报》1月22日报道，法国前第一夫人贝尔纳黛特•希拉克当天透露，尼古拉斯•萨科齐有意在2017年参选总统。与此同时，萨科齐在沉寂将近两年后首次在社交媒体上传了自己的照片，似乎确有东山再起之意。

80岁高龄的贝尔纳黛特•希拉克是前总统雅克•希拉克的夫人，长期以来一直是萨科齐的支持者。她起初不想正面回答有关萨科齐是否将在2017年参选总统的问题，仅表示“但愿如此”，并称他是唯一有声望竞选该职位的右翼政治家。在被追问萨科齐是否明确告诉她自己有参选意图时，她说，“嗯，我不能告诉你。如果我说了，他会怪我的。”但在记者的一再追问下，她只好承认了。

22日当天，萨科齐在社交媒体Instagram上传了一张照片。照片里，他在位于巴黎第八区的办公室附近的咖啡馆里喝咖啡。图片配上了文字说明：祝店主新年快乐，谢谢你的咖啡。这是萨科齐21个月以来首次上传照片，反响强烈。支持者留言说：“回来吧，尼古拉斯，我们需要你。”

评论家指出，照片发布时，正值萨科齐党内竞争对手联手阻止他参加党内总统候选人初选之际。法国《观点》杂志上个月报道称，萨科齐告诉朋友们：“问题不在于我是否想回来，而是我不能不回来。我别无选择，这就是命运。”

萨科齐日前对现任总统奥朗德偷情一事发表了评论，嘲笑他被拍到戴着头盔去会情人。此举或许也是在为2017年大选铺路。

Bernadette Chirac let slip on Wednesday that there was no question Nicolas Sarkozy intended to make a political comeback, as the former president reactivated a social media account to post a photograph of himself to supporters.

France’s 80-year-old former first lady, was initially evasive when asked whether she thought the man who succeeded her husband, Jacques Chirac, as French president intended to have another crack at the job in 2017. “I hope so,” she told Europe 1 radio, adding that he was the only Right-winger with the stature for the post.

When pressed on whether he had made his intention clear to her, she said: “Well, I’m forbidden from saying so. I’m telling you, he’s going to tick me off.”

Did that mean the response was “oui”, the reporter insisted. “Well of course,” she finally exclaimed.

Mrs Chirac has become a prominent supporter of Mr Sarkozy after a long stretch of frosty relations following his supposed insubordination towards her husband while in office. Since his defeat in the 2012 elections, Mr Sarkozy has made sure he is not forgotten by sending a series of “postcards” to the French — from appearances at his wife Carla’s concerts to this week calling a mayor in the Var region to offer support after floods.

In the Instagram photograph on Wednesday, his first uploaded on the online picture-sharing website in 21 months, Mr Sarkozy can be seen laughing as he sips a coffee in a café near his offices in the 8th arrondissement. “Happy New Year to the shopkeepers of the district and thank you for the coffee,” reads the accompanying message.

The post has received a flood of messages of support, such as: “Come back Nicolas, we need you.” Commentators noted that the photograph appeared amid reports that Mr Sarkozy’s party rivals are joining forces to block him from circumventing party primaries.

Last month, Le Point reported that Mr Sarkozy had told friends: “The question is not to know if I want or don’t want to return. I cannot not return. I don’t have a choice. It’s destiny. Destiny.”