London, December 28: France’s glamorous First Lady Carla Bruni, often accused of meddling in the state’s affairs, has now landed into a “nepotism” controversy, after a friend of her was recently given a top government job.
Francois Baudot, a 60-year-old former interior designer friend of Ms. Bruni for 15 years, has been appointed as France’s new Inspector General of Cultural Affairs despite the government appointment’s commission initially deciding that he was not suitable for the job, the ‘Le Point’ reported.
But, then the commission changed its mind after its members were informed that President Nicolas Sarkozy, Prime Minister Francois Fillon and Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand backed Mr. Baudot for the 4,500 pounds-a-month new post, according to the leading French news magazine.
However, the magazine has also admitted that Mr. Baudot -a former government commissioner for France’s museums and monuments-had a “pretty good CV for the new job”, British newspaper ‘The Daily Telegraph’ reported.
Last month, a Reader’s Digest poll found that 48 per cent of the people in France believed the former supermodel was “very influential” in her husband’s policy-making.
—PTI