Macron lacks authority because he has no children, says Sarkozy

NICOLAS SARKOZY claimed Emmanuel Macron had trouble imposing his presidential authority because “he has no children”, according to a new book on the current and former French presidents’ love-hate relationship.

Honey, I Shrunk the Right, by the political journalists Nathalie Schuck and Olivier Beaumont, charts the pas de deux between the 43-year-old French president and his 66-year-old conservative predecessor.

Mr Sarkozy is cited as telling a small group of visitors to his post-presidential Paris office: “A boss is there to boss around. France must be held firm, otherwise, it’s a country at war!”

Referring to Mr Macron’s self-professed desire to govern in the style of Jupiter, king of the gods, he said: “The image of Jupiter is all very well and good but if you never use fire, well…”

He is said to have added: “The root of the issue is that he has no children.” Mr Macron has no offspring but is said to be very close to his wife Brigitte’s children – Sebastien, Laurence and Tiphaine – and seven grandchildren. Some have been known to call him “daddy”.

Mr Sarkozy is not the first to have linked Mr Macron’s childlessness to his political credentials. Jean-marie Le Pen, the far-right firebrand, once claimed in a speech that the centrist “speaks of the future but has no children”.

Mr Marcon, then a presidential candidate, hit back hours later: “I have children and grandchildren of the heart.”

Mr Macron is said to be impressed and intrigued by his older predecessor. “For Macron, to lunch with Sarkozy is like playing football with Platini for a man who loves football,” Gérald Darmanin, the interior minister, is quoted as saying in the book.

Mr Macron has made no secret of his proximity with Mr Sarkozy, whom he has invited to the Élysée along with his wife, Carla Bruni-sarkozy, on several occasions.

However, Mr Sarkozy has played hot and cold with his successor, who he feels is surrounded by “crap” advisers.

The book cites Mr Sarkozy as expressing frustration at the younger leader’s supposed “trembling hand” when it came to imposing his authority on certain key areas such as secularism and social and religious disputes.

Mr Sarkozy was also livid at France’s slow start to rolling out vaccinations, its reliance on pooling orders with EU countries and failure to produce its own serum. Despite Mr Sarkozy’s recent double conviction for corruption, he remains highly influential among French conservatives, an electorate Mr Macron has constantly sought to woo.

‘A boss is there to boss around. France must be held firm, otherwise, it’s a country at war’