German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party has blocked former French president Nicolas Sarkozy from addressing its annual convention, two people with direct knowledge said, extending the chill between the former allies.
Sarkozy, who is seeking a comeback after voters ousted him in 2012, will not be allowed to give a speech at the Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) two-day conference starting on Tuesday in Cologne, the party and government officials said.
While Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party is invited to send representatives, it was made clear that he could not take the podium, said the officials, who asked not to be named because the talks are private.
CDU spokesman Jochen Blind said the party would not comment publicly on the matter.
Merkel and Sarkozy teamed up to defend the euro as Europe’s debt crisis unfolded in 2010, coordinating policy to the point they became known as “Merkozy.”
While Merkel publicly backed his re-election bid in 2012, she is now wary of Sarkozy’s ambitions because she views some of his policies as propelling the surge of France’s anti-immigration, anti-euro National Front, German government officials have said.
Sarkozy will not attend the convention, though he plans to meet Merkel early next year, a spokeswoman for the former president said by phone yesterday. She cited a scheduling conflict requiring him to be in Paris for political meetings.
Taking the stage at an event headlined by Merkel, Germany’s most popular politician, would have given Sarkozy, 59, a platform to advance his comeback.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, a CDU member, said on Nov. 2 he looked forward to welcoming Sarkozy at the party’s meeting.
Merkel called Sarkozy to congratulate him on his election as UMP chairman, the party said in a statement yesterday.
“She wished him luck, lots of strength, and success,” it said.
The two leaders “agreed to cooperate as closely as possible and will meet very soon,” it said.
Sarkozy’s UMP chose him as party head last Saturday, though that does not guarantee he will be the party’s candidate in the 2017 presidential election.
Polls consistently show voters prefer Bordeaux Mayor Alain Juppe, who was Sarkozy’s foreign minister and has said he will run.
Merkel’s chancellery favors Juppe, 69, since he is a more centrist choice than Sarkozy, a German government official said in October.
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