Sarkozy later expressed remorse for that indiscreet outburst, widely mocked by his opponents. “That was an act of stupidity that I regret to this day,” he wrote in his book, “La France Pour la Vie,” published in 2016. “It dragged down the dignity of the presidency.”
The antagonism of that encounter was all the more striking because of its contrast with the farmers’ warm embrace of Sarkozy’s predecessor, president Jacques Chirac.
