Rachida Dati, the embattled French justice minister, has sparked consternation in her own camp by letting it be known she intends to run for mayor of Paris, against President Nicolas Sarkozy's wishes.
The move suggests that Miss Dati, 43, whom Mr Sarkozy demoted by squeezing her out of the cabinet in exchange for a near-certain seat in the European parliament, intends to rebuild her flagging career with or without the president's support.
The glamorous single mother plans to use her hands-off post as mayor of the chic seventh arrondissement, as well as her seat on the Paris city council, as a springboard to run for mayor of the capital in 2014 – when the second mandate of Socialist Bertrand Delanoë expires.
Last month, the president gave his estranged protégée no choice but to leave her prestigious post as justice minister to take the low-profile position of No 2 on his centre-right UMP party's list for the greater Paris area in the European elections. Although she put a brave face on it, the move was widely seen as an elegant dismissal for the first person of North African descent to hold a top government post. >>> By Henry Samuel in Paris | Friday, February 13, 2009
LE PARISIEN: Rachida Dati rêve d’être maire de Paris
Pour ses collaborateurs, ce n’est plus un secret : Rachida Dati veut être maire de Paris. « La capitale en 2014, c’est un vrai objectif pour elle, confie un de ses proches. Elle a l’idée de conquérir l’Hôtel de Ville. » L’une des plus fidèles de la ministre de la Justice, sa conseillère Emmanuelle Dauvergne, confirme ce projet : « Elle veut s’investir à Paris, c’est ce qu’elle fait déjà dans le VII e arrondissement. En effet, elle m’a confié que la mairie de Paris en 2014 l’intéresse vraiment. » >>> Azzeddine Ahmed-Chaouch avec Martine Chevalet | Jeude 12 Février 2009
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