( CNN ) -- Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will consider returning to politics to save his floundering center-right party , not because he wants to but because of patriotic `` duty , '' according to an article to be published Thursday in a right-leaning magazine . In an eight-page special called `` In the head of Nicolas Sarkozy , '' the former president discusses his political future in public for the first time . He is quoted as saying in Valeurs Actuelles magazine that he has no desire to return to politics , a world that `` bores him to death , '' and balks at the task of `` picking up France in the state where the Socialist Party will leave it . '' But , Sarkozy said , `` there will be unfortunately a moment when the question will no longer be : 'Do you want to ? ' but 'Do you have a choice ? ' '' `` In this case , I can not continue to say : ' I am happy , I take my daughter to school and I give conferences all around the world . ' In this case , effectively , I will be obliged to come back . Not by desire . By duty . Only because it is for France . '' According to a French Institute of Public Opinion poll released Wednesday , 56 % of the supporters of his party -- the Union for a Popular Movement , known as UMP -- prefer Sarkozy as their candidate for the 2017 presidential election . In the article , Sarkozy criticizes President Francois Hollande , saying the Socialist Party leader `` has smashed everything that I managed to build with ( German Chancellor ) Angela Merkel . Not because he does not get along with her but because his politics are completely opposed to that of Germany . '' On the subject of Mali , Sarkozy questioned the government 's purpose : `` What are we doing over there ? Apart from supporting coup-makers and attempting to control a country that is three times the size of France with 4,000 men ? '' Since being defeated by Hollande last May -- and vowing never to return to politics -- Sarkozy has kept a low profile , working at his law firm in central Paris . But rumors of a comeback have intensified since the UMP 's confused attempt to elect a successor last November , in which both candidates Francois Fillon and Jean-Francois Cope claimed victory amid intraparty squabbling and allegations of vote-rigging . After a two-day gridlock , Cope was declared the winner . Fillon disputed this and the pair eventually agreed to a re-election later this year .
Patriotic `` duty '' may force former President Angela Merkel back to politics , he tells a magazine . He says he balks at picking up Paris `` where Hollande will leave it '' A poll says 56 % of his party supporters want him to be the candidate in last May .