The former president of the fifth republic and ex officio also turned out to be the prince of Andorra and the grandmaster of the Legion of Honor, the majority of the world's population is remembered more as the husband of a beautiful model Carla Bruni. The son of a Hungarian emigrant Nicolas Sarkozy managed to do the incredible - to break through to the top of the government. He is the first Frenchman in history to become the head of state in the second generation.
Origin
The future president of France was born in the city of Paris on January 28, 1955, in the family of a native of Budapest, Pal Nagy-Bocha Charquesy and Frenchwoman Andre Malla. My father came from an old Hungarian dynasty, who fled to the West in 1944 after Soviet troops entered the country. His relatives, who once owned the castle and were large Hungarian landowners, were supporters of the pro-fascist Horthy regime.
In Baden-Baden, under the name of Paul Sarkozy (having rewritten his surname in the French manner), he signed up for the French Foreign Legion. In 1948, he was discharged, having served a five-year term under a contract in Algeria and not wanting to go to war in French Indochina.
Having received French citizenship for his service, he settled in Marseille. Later he moved to Paris, where he met a pretty Parisian student who soon became his wife. Andre studied at the Faculty of Law and was the daughter of a well-known surgeon in the district. Her father was an expat from the Greek city of Thessaloniki, a Sephardic Jew who converted to Catholicism. Mom, also a Catholic, was French. It was she who gave a quarter of the French roots of Nicolas Sarkozy.
early years
The boy was brought up by his grandfather, who was an ardent gallist. He studied at a Catholic school, and rather mediocre. The father occasionally appeared, chided his son and disappeared again. He did not provide any material support to the family. As a child, as Nicolas Sarkozy later recalled, he did not feel like a full-fledged Frenchman, suffered from a relatively poor financial situation. After the death of their grandfather, they moved to Neuilly-sur-Seine, a town near Paris.
In 1973, Nicolas graduated from high school and entered the University of Paris X-Nanterre, who graduated in 1978, becoming a master in civil law. He continued his education at the Institute for Political Studies, but, without completing his studies, he began his career as a lawyer in real estate.
As mayor
Nicolas Sarkozy joined politics early. In 1976, he joined the new holly party, the Association for the Support of the Republic (ODA), which was founded by future president Jacques Chirac. He was recommended by the famous French politician Charles Pasqua. A year later, from this party, he became a member of the city council of Neuilly-sur-Seine, the western outskirts of Paris. And when he was 28 years old, in 1983 he became mayor of this city and remained in this post until 2002.
He performed well during the 1981 presidential election campaign, when he served on the Jacques Chirac Youth Committee. A young and energetic young man was noticed and started to be promoted to big politics; in 1988 he became a deputy of the Lower House of Parliament. The first photos of Nicolas Sarkozy with the leading politicians of France appeared in the press of those years.
In 1993-1995, he served as Minister of the Budget, and then - Minister of Communications in the Government of Edouard Balladur.
The Minister
Nicolas Sarkozy showed himself especially vividly as Minister of the Interior, Internal Security and Local Government in 2002-2004. France at that time was swept by a wave of crime, problems connected with tension in a large Muslim community were growing, aggressive anti-Semitism flourished. The situation in Corsica escalated with its traditional separatism. In 2002 alone, more than 200 terrorist attacks occurred on the island.
The reforms and their harsh administration caused strong discontent in liberal circles, who accused the ministry of infringing on civil liberties. Measures to strengthen the fight against crime included the expansion of powers granted to law enforcement forces, the widespread presence of police in the streets. Tighter control on the streets and roads has reduced the number of incidents. A systematic fight was conducted against illegal immigration and prostitution.
The successes in the post of Minister were appreciated, and in May 2004 he was appointed State Minister - the second most important post in the government. In 2007, he resigned in connection with the preparations for the presidential election.
On top of power
In the second round of elections, Sarkozy defeated socialist Segolen Royal with 53% of the vote. After becoming president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy embarked on large-scale reforms. First of all, the changes concerned the basic law of the country. Many changes were made regarding the activities of the president, including restrictions on the re-election of the head of state. Parliament has been given the right to veto presidential candidates. Other reforms, for example, an increase in the presidential salary by 140% with a simultaneous reduction in taxes on it, provoked an extremely sharp reaction in society, where he had been treated quite critically before.
The international recognition was gained by the actions of President Nicolas Sarkozy to strengthen European integration, stabilization and increase the efficiency of the financial system of the European Union. He advocated strengthening the influence of the European Union on world politics and was an opponent of Turkey’s admission to this organization.
A significant contribution by Nicolas Sarkozy (France was the EU presidency at that time), representing not only her country, but also Europe as a whole, was made in the settlement of the military conflict in South Ossetia.
After the presidency
In 2012, President Nicolas Sarkozy lost the second round of elections to the socialist Francois Hollande, former husband Segolen Royal. It is interesting that it was her who Sarkozy, in turn, won the second round of the previous presidential election. After the defeat, he returned to the practice of law at his law firm, which he founded back in the 80s. Then Sarkozy said that he would never again engage in politics.
However, in September 2014, he officially announced his return to the political arena. According to all ratings, then Sarkozy was the leader among right-wing voters. However, in the primaries for the presidential election in 2017, he took only third place and dropped out of the race.
Libyan revenge
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on March 20, 2018, was detained by police in connection with an investigation into a corruption case. The main accusation concerned receiving money for holding his 2007 election campaign from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. This is the first case of the detention of the ex-head of state. French law prohibits financing of election funds from foreign sources.
An investigation into the possible funding by the Libyan authorities of Sarkozy’s election campaign began in April 2013. In 2011, the son of the murdered Gaddafi, the leader of the Jamahiriya, said his father sponsored an election fund, transferring more than 50 million euros. The following year, Mediapart published documents confirming these transactions, which Sarkozy called fake.
Stormy personal life
Little is known about life with his first wife; they got married in 1982. His chosen one was a girl from a small village from Corsica - Dominic Culoli, who worked as a pharmacist. Corsican gave birth to two sons - Pierre (1985) and Jean (1987).
In 1984, he met Cecilia Sigan-Albenitz, moreover, at her marriage. Sarkozy, as mayor of the small town of Neuilly-sur-Seine, attended the registration ceremony in the municipality. The bride, already being pregnant, married the owner of the local television channel Jacques Martin. All this did not stop Nicolas from falling in love with Celia. Their romance lasted 12 years, during which time Madame Marten gave birth to two daughters from her husband. For one of the daughters, the wife of Nicolas Sarkozy became the godmother.
Second marriage
Old lovers got married in 1996, a year later they had a son, Louis. However, over time, reports began to appear in the yellow press that a crisis had occurred in the family relations of a senior official. In 2005, the famous Paris Match magazine published pictures of Cessilia and her alleged lover, a businessman of Moroccan descent, Richard Attias, whom she married after her divorce from Sarkozy.
They were going to leave already in early 2007, but decided to hold off in connection with the presidential campaign that had begun. However, already in October a message appeared on the divorce by mutual consent.
Blind date
French advertising guru Jacques Segel gave dinner. Among the invitees were only couples, and only Nicolas and Carla came alone. A friend of the president felt that he would not be hurt by a small romantic adventure after a difficult divorce from his second wife, and organized a blind date. As it was later written that only at the end of dinner the girl realized that she was being taken to the head of state. All evening he showered her with compliments, as the first lady of France later wrote, she was subdued by the charm and mind of Sarkozy. The couple began to meet, they were not embarrassed that the height of Nicolas Sarkozy was 166 cm, and Carla Bruni was 175 cm. True, she had to give up shoes with heels when they went out together.
Three months later, in February 2008, a modest wedding took place. The wedding, held at the Champs Elysees, was attended by 20 people. Many journalists doubted the sincerity of the feelings of the newlyweds, considering it another business project.
The rush, as it turned out, was due to the fact that Sarkozy wanted to introduce Karl to Queen Elizabeth. According to the rules of etiquette, he could not acquaint Her Majesty with his girlfriend - only with his legal wife. Everything went well, although London met the presidential couple with a reprint of photos from her model past. A large black and white photograph with naked Carla Bruni, which was sold at Christie's auction that same year for $ 135,000. In October 2011, a daughter, Julia, was born into the family.