THE TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy has asked his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to lower her public profile after complaints about her political influence on the French president, it has been claimed.
Last week France's leading society magazine described Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, 41, as the new Marie-Antoinette. Now it transpires the president has asked her to take a back seat amid a growing chorus of disapproval from his own Right-wing allies about her "luvvy" Left-wing influence.
One alleged in l'Express magazine on Thursday that she was responsible for "most of the head of state's woes in this turbulent autumn".
Mr Sarkozy's approval ratings are at their lowest since his 2007 election - just 39 per cent according to one poll - and he is desperately trying to woo back his core conservative electorate ahead of regional elections next March.
Many voters are appalled by a series of scandals, from nepotism allegations concerning Mr Sarkozy's 23-year-old son, Jean, to the furore over a book by Frédéric Mitterrand, the culture minister, about his past as a sexual tourist. Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, a friend of Mr Mitterrand, is attributed with advising her husband to nominate him to the post.
Colleagues also blame her for encouraging ministers to give outspoken support to Roman Polanksi, the film-maker detained in Switzerland and awaiting extradition to the US for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
Mr Sarkozy this week sought to regain the upper hand by launching a nationwide debate on "national identity" and a plan to impose a curfew on delinquents.
A friend of Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy quoted by the 20minutes.fr website said: "Her husband has asked her not to intervene on [political] subjects. And this doesn't bother her." >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Thursday, November 05, 2009
20 MINUTES: Le mea culpa de Nicolas Sarkozy au sujet de la candidature de son fils à l'Epad >>> | Jeudi 05 Novembre 2009
