Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy
has dropped his pledge to repeal marriage equality.
The Socialist government of Francois
Hollande approved legislation legalizing marriage and adoption for
gay and lesbian couples in 2013.
French daily Le
Figaro last week published excerpts from Sarkozy's new book,
La France Pour La Vie, in which he says that he has “evolved”
on the issue of repeal.
“I do not wish to legislate it again,
because the priority should be to bring the French people together,”
Sarkozy is quoted as writing. “This is a point upon which, I
assume, I have evolved.”
At a 2014 candidates debate in Paris
organized by the conservative movement Common Sense, Sarkozy told the
crowd that the law “should be rewritten from the ground up.” The
audience chanted “Repeal! Repeal!” to which the former president
responded: “If you prefer that I say repeal the law … it comes
down to the same thing.”
“Upon reflection,” Sarkozy
wrote in his book, “I fear that, given the state of tension and
division in French society brought about because of Francois
Hollande's methods, the cure is worse than the disease.”
La Manif Pour Tous, the nation's
largest group dedicated to undermining France's same-sex marriage
law, sharply criticized Sarkozy's comments, saying that he had
“abandoned his convictions.”
Sarkozy is expected to challenge
Hollande in next year's presidential election.