Nicolas Sarkozy

The conservative party of former President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to dominate the final round of France?s local elections, give the far-right National Front another electoral breakthrough and deal a new blow to the governing Socialists.
                   

France's right-wing parties, led by former president Nicolas Sarkozy, edged out the far-right National Front to take first place in local elections on Sunday, in a crucial test ahead of 2017 presidential elections.
      

The conservative party of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy came in the lead at the local elections in the country on Sunday.

The National Front party, led by Marina Le Pen, on the other hand, achieved a stable result with approximately a quarter of the votes. Some of the main positions of the nationalists in France involve anti-immigration and anti-EU proposals.

France's National Front, one of the most powerful populist far right parties in Europe, eyed strong gains against the ruling socialists of President Francois Hollande in regional elections March 22.
     
The election's first round got underway at 8:00 am (0700 GMT) across 101 "departments", which control issues such as school and welfare budgets.
      

French PM warns about rise of National Front

PARIS -- The far-right National Front is on track to win more votes than any other party in the first round of French local elections, Reuters quoted a poll on Monday.

At the same time, France's Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke of "fear" that the party could also in win the presidential election in 2017.

In a speech held at the congress of Union for center-right Popular Movement Party (UMP) on Monday, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy stated that Crimea cannot be blamed for its decision to secede from Ukraine.

Lebanese Morgan Stanley banker Bernard Mourad is writing a play script focused on the time when George Papandreou was the socialist PASOK prime minister of Greece. According to newspaper Liberation, Mourad has the script ready and is collaborating with Mag & News Co to get it published.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been elected head of the opposition UMP party - a victory that is expected to bolster his hopes for running for president again.

The election of Sarkozy at the top position of the conservative UMP is positioning him as front-runner for the nomination of the party for the presidential elections in 2017.

France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy handily won the leadership of his right-wing UMP on Nov. 29, placing him firmly on the starting blocks in his race back to the presidential palace.
      

By Costas Iordanidis

Recent revelations by the Financial Times of the behind-the-scenes machinations at Cannes in November 2011 that led to the downfall of Greece’s then-Prime Minister George Papandreou – a negligible loss of course – and where the leaders of the European Union lost complete control of themselves leave a bitter taste.