French President Nicolas Sarkozy today hinted he and former model Carla Bruni are to wed.
"There is a strong chance that you will learn about it after it's already done," he told a news conference. A newspaper reported over the weekend that a wedding is expected for early February, prompting him to joke that it would not be the media who set the date.
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and with his girlfriend, Carla Bruni during a recent visit to Cairo. Reuters
Mr Sarkozy's romance with Ms Bruni reportedly started shortly after the French leader and his second wife, Cecilia Sarkozy, divorced three months ago.
Mr Sarkozy (52), and Ms Bruni, a 40-year-old Italian-born French former model with a successful folk music career, have since been photographed together in locations from Disneyland Paris to the pyramids in Egypt.
"You've understood: It is serious," Mr Sarkozy said when asked about their relationship at his first major news conference since his election in May. He added that he was speaking for Ms Bruni as well.
The conservative president has been accused of publicising his relationship to try to distract from a dramatic recent slide in polls. Some analysts also say that his flaunting of his private life annoys many voters, especially more traditional ones.
Mr Sarkozy defended his decision to take the relationship public, saying he wanted to break with a long tradition of French leaders keeping their love lives hidden with the media's tacit accord.
He alluded to late former French President Francois Mitterrand, who kept the existence of a mistress and illegitimate daughter a secret for most of his 1981-1995 presidency.
Mr Sarkozy pointed out that journalists felt comfortable asking him questions they had never dared to ask his predecessors. "I have been a part of a break with a deplorable tradition in our country: hypocrisy and lies," he said.
Mr Sarkozy's approval rating stands around 48 per cent
- a drop of seven points in a month, and a sharp departure from his highest level, 65 per cent, in July, according to a recent poll.