ANNECY, France — French President Nicolas Sarkozy used his first re-election campaign rally Thursday to launch a blistering attack on his frontrunning Socialist rival, calling him an inveterate liar.
Francois Hollande “lies from morning to night,” Sarkozy told cheering supporters in the Alpine town of Annecy, the day after officially declaring his candidacy for the presidential election in 10 weeks.
“When you tell the English press that you are pro-market (economically liberal) and when you come to explain to the French that finance is the enemy, you are lying, you are lying from morning to night,” he said.
The president was referring to an interview in The Guardian published Monday in which the Socialist favourite said he wanted to reassure the City of London that it need not worry about his plans to regulate the financial world.
Full story: Sarkozy launches blistering attack on rival at vote rally