Nicolas Sarkozy officially declared tonight. But since late summer, he campaigned without saying.

October 16, after the second round of primary socialist Francois Hollande is designated cThe president is not officially campaigning, but it resembles. "The pace of travel is accelerating. In the first eight months of 2011, Sarkozy has performed more than during all of 2010," says the deputy PS Rene Dosière related in his latest book "The Silver State ". Whoever has been in Elysian Account Specialist recognizes "7 October and 7 November."

November 25, one week after signing an agreement heckled, mainly on the nuclear issue between the PS and the Greens, Nicolas Sarkozy visits the Tricastin nuclear site (Drôme). Both parties agreed to the closure of 24 nuclear reactors at 58 if they win in 2012. "They challenge a consensus of 65 years old around our energy strategy," said the president in an alarmist. Referring to turn the "dramatic consequences", a "destruction" of nuclear or a "cataclysm".

On 30 November, the representative of the Socialist candidate, Daniel Vaillant, files a complaint with the commission of campaign accounts. He accuses the president of the president campaigning with state resources. The Committee considers that part of the cost of travel of the head of state could be integrated into his campaign account if he "was obliged to state the elements of a program of future candidate" before his nomination.

December

The month of year-end holiday starts with great pomp. Just over three years after his first speech on the crisis, the head of state will return to Toulon to deliver a "major speech" on the future of Europe. A new opportunity for the president-candidate to target the Socialists. "The retirement age of 60 and 35h were serious faults which we are now paying heavily the consequences," he quips in a room full of activists. Two recurring themes in the response of the UMP.

The High Audiovisual Council, which allocates speaking time will judge a few weeks later that 21 minutes of speech in Toulon were related to the presidential post when the other 30 minutes only addressed the "political debate".

The month and year end with the wishes of the Head of State. He announced the establishment of social VAT, a tax on financial transactions and the holding of a "big jobs summit" in January. Nicolas Sarkozy defends his record:

January is marked by the first episode of true false-off: in a confidence to a dozen journalists on a trip to Guyana, Nicolas Sarkozy evokes the possibility of its defeat.

"I made one off, we talked about it for a week. It's not bad for an undead!" He gloats then, according to Le Parisien.

A week after the meeting at Le Bourget that allows Francois Hollande to consolidate its lead in the polls, Nicolas Sarkozy offered a televised live on channel 9. If he refuses to say more about his candidacy, he slides all the same: "Sometimes I'm impatient, as I see misplaced arrogance."

Nicolas Sarkozy has also discovered a new ally: German Chancellor Angela Merkel. By the voice of the boss of the CDU, it "welcomes the joint meetings planned during the campaign in the spring." Before the joint meetings, the Franco-German gave an interview on a string simultaneously French and German.