Former president says he favours some form of marriage for same-sex couples, but not the same as for heterosexuals

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has told supporters that the country’s same-sex marriage law should be scrapped.

Sarkozy, who is campaigning to lead the opposition centre-right UMP party and is expected to run again for president in 2017, was speaking at a debate organised by the conservative Common Sense (Sens Commun) group on Saturday.

Referring to the “mariage pour tous” or “marriage for all” legislation passed by France’s Socialist government last year, he said it needed “rewriting from top to bottom”.

His comments, two weeks before the UMP’s hotly contested leadership election, prompted catcalls from the 3,000-strong audience and cries of “Repeal! Repeal!”. Sarkozy, appearing rattled, responded: “If you’d rather one says repeal the law and make another one … in French, that’s saying the same thing. It comes to the same result. But hey, if that makes you happy, then frankly, it doesn’t cost much.”

Sarkozy explained he was in favour of some form of marriage for same-sex couples, but something different from that for heterosexuals. He said he opposed surrogate parenthood for same-sex couples.

The same-sex marriage legislation is known officially as the Taubira law, named after the justice minister Christiane Taubira who oversaw its introduction.

“It’s no use being against surrogacy if you don’t repeal the Taubira law,” Sarkozy said to cheers and applause.

The former president, who has been married three times, has previously criticised the legislation, saying it was “humiliating families and humiliating people who love the family”, but it is the first time he has called for its repeal.

An Ifop poll published on Saturday found that 68% of respondents supported same-sex unions and 53% supported adoption by same-sex couples.

Sarkozy’s comment and apparent policy-making on the hoof brought angry reactions from the governing Socialist party, which accused him of “appealing to the most reactionary instincts of his core supporters”. A spokesperson said Sarkozy wanted to create “a new form of segregation” with his two-tier marriage proposal.

The anti-gay marriage group La Manif Pour Tous (Demonstrations for All) cautioned that Sarkozy’s “conversion” to its cause was still only a “declaration of intent”.

• This article was amended on 17 November 2014. An earlier version said that adoption was illegal for same-sex couples in France. It has been legal since 2013.