Imprisoned Nicolas Sarkozy personifies France's political crisis

When Nicolas Sarkozy lost his job as president of France he was guaranteed round-the-clock security for life, all at taxpayers’ expense. 

This meant a team of strapping bodyguards to accompany him on his daily jog, and a blue light convoy to get him to the supermarket on a Saturday morning. 

Fast-forward more than 13 years, and such privileges have been upgraded to his own VIP cell at La Santé prison in Paris. 

The former head of state will be under surveillance at all times following a five-year sentence for conspiring to obtain millions in laundered cash from the late Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. 

This included using the execution of an international warrant issued against Gaddafi’s brother-in-law – behind the bombing of UTA Flight 772 in 1989, which killed 54 French nationals – as a bargaining chip.*

It is not Mr Sarkozy’s first conviction – he has already spent time wearing an electronic tag for trying to bribe a judge, and for illegal campaign funding. 

The serial offender has other investigations and trials coming up too. As a reactionary conservative who once revelled in the nickname ‘Le Top Cop’, he has become a pin-up boy for aspirational criminals everywhere.

The problem of presidential immunity

What is particularly troubling about Mr Sarkozy’s case, however, is how he spent five years in office when nobody, least of all a judge, could lay a finger on him. Compelling evidence of wrongdoing was emerging from the year he came to power – it included him inviting Gaddafi to Paris for a state visit – and yet it all had to be hushed up.

This presidential immunity from prosecution is something that Mr Sarkozy’s prime minister, François Fillon, longed to enjoy after swindling taxpayers of cash by pretending that his wife was his parliamentary secretary. Even after being indicted for fraud and misuse of public funds – charges of which he was later found guilty – Mr Fillon stood to become president. 

With the threat of prison hanging over him, millions backed Mr Fillon in the first round of the contest. It was not quite enough to get the top job, but had he succeeded he could have spent at least two terms – or 10 years – avoiding justice completely.

Needless to say, presidents of France can grant a pardon to criminals too, including themselves. This must be what Marine Le Pen of Rassemblement National has in mind as she eyes the Elysée Palace after being found guilty of embezzling more than €4million from the European Parliament to fund party staff. 

Ms Le Pen is appealing the conviction, hoping she can slow down the wheels of justice until 2027, when Emmanuel Macron is forced to stand down following two terms of office – the maximum allowed in France. 

Mr Macron is, of course, already massively unpopular, and many would argue that the perennial lame duck should have quit long ago. His fourth minority government in 16 months is on the verge of collapse at all times, as his key policy pledges – including raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 – are also threatened. 

Mr Macron has responded to the growing opposition in the usual presidential manner – by ignoring bickering parliamentarians, focusing on foreign policy, and pledging to carry on regardless, no matter what the electorate thinks. 

This supremely undemocratic behaviour is meanwhile allowed by a Fifth Republic constitution which overwhelmingly supports a monarchical-style president over anybody else. That is why the incumbent gets to live in an actual palace, as well as numerous other official homes, while being placed in charge of one of the most powerful security states in the world. 

Add all the other entitlements – he can appoint his own prime minister and cabinet, and they do not even need to be politicians, let alone elected ones – and the president can pretty much do whatever he wants. As the shameful career of Nicolas Sarkozy illustrates, this includes breaking the law in office. It is about time that everything was done to end this most scandalous of presidential prerogatives. 

* The association ‘Families of the UTA DC-10 attack’ brought civil proceedings in this trial on behalf of the 94 relatives of the 54 victims.