France’s First Lady has invited ridicule in her bid to recast her husband Nicolas a “man of the people”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s millionaire wife, Carla Bruni, has sparked mirth among political opponents by insisting the couple are modest, simple folk.
Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni have been criticised for their luxurious lifestyle
The comment from the heiress to a tyre fortune who earned almost £5 million (Rs 39 crore) per year at the height of her catwalk fame has turned Bruni-Sarkozy into a laughing stock on the internet.
One commentator on a website described the claim as coming from “Marie Antoinette in Sarkoland.”
The Italian-born singer who lives in a huge mansion near the Elysee Palace made the remark on Tuesday night as her husband denied opposition claims that he was the “President of the rich” in a TV interview, calling them a “shameful lie”.
“We are modest folk,” the first lady told French reporters while watching her husband express regret at spending his electoral night at the glitzy Le Fouquet’s bar on the Champs-Elysees.
Derided for his showy love of money, chunky watches and Ray Bans at the start of his presidency, Sarkozy has been at pains to paint his life as almost monastic in recent days.
Claude Gueant, his interior minister, said the president-candidate led a “life of extreme austerity”, and whose leisure was limited to occasional reading and films. “He rarely even has friends for dinner,” he claimed.
His wife, meanwhile said she was never happier than when sitting at home wearing a tracksuit in extracts from a new book on past and future presidential partners.
In July 2011, Nicolas Sarkozy was heavily criticised for spending more than £65,000 (Rs 50 lakh) equipping his plane with ovens.
They had to abandon the Bastille Day garden party last July, after it emerged that they were spending more than £600,000 (Rs 4 cr) as well as £660 (Rs 51,000) a day on flowers.
—Agencies