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Sarkozy’s wife loses book case

— PHOTO: AP

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Cecilia Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace in Paris in June 2007.

Paris: French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s former wife, Cecilia, on Friday lost a court case that tried to stop the publication of one of three books written by journalists in which she is quoted as describing the President as “a womaniser,” “a miser” and “a man who loves no one, not even his children.”

The controversial President whose private life has made waves recently because of his very public affair with singer and former top model Carla Bruni, is back in the news, in a far less flattering light this time. The person delivering the broadside is none other than Ms. Cecilia, who divorced him in October last year.

The Paris civil court rejected a demand for an injunction to prevent “Cecilia” by Anna Bitton, journalist and former friend of Ms. Cecilia, from going on sale on Friday. Ms. Cecilia’s lawyer Michele Cahen immediately announced that the ex-First Lady would appeal the decision before a higher court, which could hear the case later on Friday.

The book went on sale on Friday along with two others written by journalists, once again putting the spotlight on Mr. Sarkozy’s personal life at a time when his approval rating has slumped.

It quotes remarks made by a bitter Ms. Cecilia in November — a month after her divorce to Mr. Sarkozy was announced — assailing her ex-husband as a “womaniser” and “a miser.” Ms. Cecilia (50) said Mr. Sarkozy had a “ridiculous side” to his personality that she helped to keep in check during their 11 year marriage and that since their divorce, he had become “undignified,” staying out in karaoke bars until 4:00 am, the book said. “Nicolas does not look like a President of the republic,” she is quoted as saying. “He has a real behavioural problem.” She also attacks the President’s entourage as a “gang of young guys, drunk on power, who take themselves for the princes of Paris.”

At the court hearing on Thursday, lawyers for Ms. Cecilia had argued that the book — excerpts of which have been published at length in French magazines and newspapers — “seriously violated her right to privacy.” But a judge ruled that a “ban, even a temporary one, would be a disproportionate measure, especially since the book was already on sale and that many weekly magazines had published several excerpts of the book in question, without being targeted for suits.”

The book release came just days after Mr. Sarkozy all but confirmed his engagement to Italian ex-supermodel and pop singer Carla Bruni.

The 52-year-old President told a news conference on Tuesday that his new romance with Ms. Bruni (40) was “serious” and suggested the couple would soon marry.

Members of Mr. Sarkozy’s governing UMP party have expressed concerns privately that the “Elysee soap opera” was not sitting well with the rightwing electorate.

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