Sarkozy’s father and wife say a second term for the French president not such a good idea
By APFriday, March 26, 2010
Sarkozy’s father, wife not eager for 2nd term
PARIS — Nicolas Sarkozy’s father and his wife aren’t thrilled about the prospect of the French president running for a second term in 2012.
Sarkozy’s father Pal is quoted in an interview in Friday’s daily Le Parisien as saying the president “would have a calmer life if he doesn’t run again.”
First lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, meanwhile, asked about a second term for her husband, is quoted in Madame Figaro as saying: “As a spouse, I don’t really want it.”
She says she would support him regardless.
Nicolas Sarkozy’s low popularity is sinking and his conservative party was trounced last weekend in regional elections by resurgent leftists.
His low popularity is sinking and his conservative party was trounced last weekend in regional elections by resurgent leftists, the last nationwide voting before the 2012 race. A poll released Friday shows that the once-low-profile Socialist Party chief Martine Aubry could beat Sarkozy if elections were held now.
And now Sarkozy’s father is releasing an autobiography that describes his own active and turbulent love life and the president’s childhood.
Passages in the book, called “So Much Life,” published in French media describe Pal Sarkozy’s wedding night with the president’s mother, Andre, nicknamed Dadou. He says he was disappointed to find that “she was already a woman.”
The two divorced when Nicolas Sarkozy was a boy, and the president has described the difficulties of growing up in a broken home.
Pal Sarkozy is quoted in Le Parisien and L’Express as saying the president saw the book before it came out. Sarkozy’s office did not immediately comment on the book Friday.
In the Parisien interview, Pal Sarkozy says he primarily sees his son at family gatherings.
He describes his son as a youth as “eager, a hard worker and sometimes angry.”
“It’s up to him to decide” about a second term, Pal Sarkozy is quoted in the Parisien as saying. He says he doesn’t recommend it, as a “father who loves his son and wants to see him happy.”
Meanwhile, the first lady is speaking out about their relationship, closely watched by French and foreign tabloids and by many French.
In the Madame Figaro interview, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy said of her husband, “He is someone who protects me from myself and the world. He is someone who calms me. He is perhaps the first man who protects me.”
She joked about her status as “Madame Sarkozy,” noting that for her record label, she is still just “Mademoiselle Carla Bruni.”
She also confirmed that she will appear in Woody Allen’s next film, to be shot in Paris in the summer.
The new interviews come as the president is at a pivotal EU summit in Brussels dealing with the Greek debt crisis. The Sarkozys will then head to New York and Washington, where next week they will have their first meeting in President Barack Obama’s White House.
