Two days after announcing his return to French politics via Facebook, former president Nicolas Sarkozy said Sunday that he “wanted to return” but also that “he had had no choice", reports FRANCE 24.
In a 45-minute primetime interview with France 2, Sarkozy outlined his bid to lead the opposition UMP party and launched a scathing attack on Socialist President François Hollande.
“I don’t want my country to be condemned to the humiliating state of affairs that we have today or the perspective of total isolation'' that he predicts will happen if France's far-right National Front party continues its rise.
“I have never seen such anger in this country, such a lack of perspective. Being just a spectator would have been an act of abandonment," Sarkozy said. "Not only do I want (to come back), but I don't have a choice."
Sarkozy attacked his Socialist rival Hollande, to whom he lost the 2012 presidential election, claiming that while he had never lied to the French people during his five years in office, Hollande "has left a long list of lies" behind him. "He is his own prosecutor," Sarkozy added.
But he admitted "mistakes" during his time as president from 2007-2012, conceding that he "sometimes thought he could do everything alone" and that he carelessly turned people against him with polarizing speech.
He also claimed to have learned a few things about himself in the two-and-a-half years since his bitter election defeat.
"With age comes less energy but more wisdom, and hindsight," said the former head of state.
Sarkozy, who was visibly tense, faces a string of legal challenges, including accusations of illegal campaign funding by France's richest woman, but said that he had nothing to be ashamed of.
“Do you really think I would return to French politics if I had the slightest thing on my conscience?” he said.
His widely expected move to join the race to lead the UMP party is seen as a first step towards running for president in 2017.
Sarkozy said he was moved to return to politics by the "hopelessness, anger and lack of future'' that he senses among the French.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.