Sawt Falasteen - Former French PM launches new party two years before presidential election

De Villepin, 71, was prime minister of France under ex-president Jacques Chirac between 2005 and 2007 and also the late leader's foreign minister between 2002 and 2004.

The traditional right-wing politician made his mark on the global stage as Chirac's head of diplomacy, delivering an impassioned speech against the invasion of Iraq war at a UN Security Council meeting in 2003.

"I decided to create a movement of ideas, of citizens, through the creation of a political party," said de Villepin in an interview with daily newspaper Le Parisien published Tuesday.

"This movement is for everyone. We need to unite all French people to defend social justice and the republican order," he added.

De Villepin -- who was also minister of the interior under Chirac -- did not explicitly make clear his intention to stand for president but the new party is likely to be seen as a key platform for such a bid.

"I am not for escalation... but for a politics of balance and measure," he said.

"Against a path of tension and identity polarisation, I offer one of assembly, public interest and humanism."

"French people deserve to have the choice" and not be caught "between the radicalism of the LFI (hard-left France Unbowed) and that of the RN (far-right National Rally)," he told Le Parisien.

The contours of the French 2027 presidential election remain largely unclear, with centre-right former prime minister Edouard Philippe the only major player to clearly state he will stand and President Emmanuel Macron barred from seeking another mandate.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen is eager to stand for fourth time but her conviction earlier this year in a fake jobs scandal disqualifies her from running for public office.

She has appealed, and waiting in the wings is her protege Jordan Bardella, 29, who would stand if Le Pen was ineligible.

De Villepin, who polls show to be France's most popular politician along with Philippe, declined to say explicitly that he would stand saying "now is not the time to enter into the presidential debate."

But he added: "Faced with the path of tension and polarisation of identities, I propose that of unity, of the general interest, and of humanism."

G.AbuHamad--SF-PST