On December 1, 2016, François Hollande announced live from the Elysee Palace that he would not seek a second term. In a message with serious tones, he takes stock of his action a few months before the end of his presidency and cites only one regret, that of the deprivation of nationality. His successor will be Emmanuel Macron, his former Minister of the Economy that he had not planned to see in this place. In his latest book, Confront, the ex-president is not tender with his successor, believing to have been betrayed. But the current head of state is not the only one to blame Hollande’s non-representation in a new five-year term. According to Opinion, his own family urged him not to be re-elected, while the attacks of November 13 had deeply affected him.
The polls were not kind to François Hollande during his presidential term. However, his decision not to stand for re-election in 2017 is not only linked to his low popularity, nor to internal struggles within the left. Indeed, the advice of his ex-wife Ségolène Royal and their children, Thomas, Flora, Clémence and Julien, would have influenced his choice. “There was something more personal about her decision“, explains a relative of the former president to Opinion. His family would have advised François Hollande not to stand for his own good. Physically and morally weakened after the attacks of November 13, 2015, he would not have been able at the time to withstand the electoral battle. In promotion for his new book, Confront, the former socialist leader suggests that he should finally have represented himself, to assert his experience. But history has decided otherwise.
The aftermath of November 13
This November 9, 2021, nearly six years after the events, François Hollande testified at the trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015. He was cited as a witness by an association of victims, Life for Paris, civil party. On the set of France 2 last September, the 67-year-old politician returned to the drama. The former President of the Republic had explained his decision not to evacuate the Stade de France, where he was when the first bomb exploded near the stadium: “It was important not to create a panic. As soon as I knew the stadium was secure […], that there was no longer any danger inside the Stade de France, I asked for the match to resume. We were able to avoid what the terrorists were looking for, which is to create an effect of fear.“It was difficult for him to take stock of the magnitude of the unfolding tragedy, even though he had a minute-by-minute account of events.”The three or four days after […], we have a moment where we say to ourselves: ‘What did we just go through?’ We ask ourselves: ‘Is it really over ? ‘”, confided then the companion of Julie Gayet, marked forever.