Prez affair to overshadow reform talks in France
15 Jan 2014 5:56 AM IST
His New Year’s encounter with journalists in his Elysee Palace will be his first public appearance since a celebrity magazine on Friday published photos it said showed Hollande making a nocturnal visit to French film actress Julie Gayet.
His office complained of breach of privacy but did not deny the affair. The saga took a surprise new turn on Sunday when it emerged that his long-term partner, Valerie Trierweiler, had been admitted to hospital in a state of shock. Hours before the news conference, it was the personal saga, rather than the economy, that dominated French news broadcasts.
The episode threatens to undermine the authority of Hollande, a Socialist who has already become the least popular French president in modern times, even as he aims to revive a stalled economy by cutting taxes on business, a lurch to the political centre that has irked unions and left-wing allies.
‘This major political event must remain a major political event,’ David Assouline, spokesman for Hollande’s Socialist party, said of the 1530 GMT news conference, an annual setpiece which could last as long as two hours. Rivals also said the scandal should not take the president’s focus off of policy announcements: ‘This is not a soap opera,’ Jean-Louis Borloo, leader of the centrist UDI party, told BFM television.
‘With nearly a third of his mandate gone, it’s about time he seriously laid out how he plans to turn the country around - even if it’s not exactly going to be rock ‘n’ roll.’
Hollande plans to use the event to detail a proposed ‘responsibility pact’ with business in which firms will be offered tax cuts and less red tape in return for hiring commitments aimed at reducing 12 percent unemployment.
But the reports of the affair are likely to hijack the agenda. A similar event staged by predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy after his 2007 divorce was dominated by curiosity over his romance with singer Carla Bruni, whom he subsequently wed.
His office complained of breach of privacy but did not deny the affair. The saga took a surprise new turn on Sunday when it emerged that his long-term partner, Valerie Trierweiler, had been admitted to hospital in a state of shock. Hours before the news conference, it was the personal saga, rather than the economy, that dominated French news broadcasts.
The episode threatens to undermine the authority of Hollande, a Socialist who has already become the least popular French president in modern times, even as he aims to revive a stalled economy by cutting taxes on business, a lurch to the political centre that has irked unions and left-wing allies.
‘This major political event must remain a major political event,’ David Assouline, spokesman for Hollande’s Socialist party, said of the 1530 GMT news conference, an annual setpiece which could last as long as two hours. Rivals also said the scandal should not take the president’s focus off of policy announcements: ‘This is not a soap opera,’ Jean-Louis Borloo, leader of the centrist UDI party, told BFM television.
‘With nearly a third of his mandate gone, it’s about time he seriously laid out how he plans to turn the country around - even if it’s not exactly going to be rock ‘n’ roll.’
Hollande plans to use the event to detail a proposed ‘responsibility pact’ with business in which firms will be offered tax cuts and less red tape in return for hiring commitments aimed at reducing 12 percent unemployment.
But the reports of the affair are likely to hijack the agenda. A similar event staged by predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy after his 2007 divorce was dominated by curiosity over his romance with singer Carla Bruni, whom he subsequently wed.
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