Valérie Trierweiler being treated in a Paris hospital after learning of affair allegations; apartment said to be used for tryst linked to a Corsican mobster
François Hollande lurched deeper into crisis on Sunday as it emerged that
France’s First Lady was being treated in hospital after learning of the
president’s alleged love affair and a report linked the apartment he used
for his romantic rendezvous to Corsican mobsters.
Valérie Trierweiler was admitted to a Paris clinic on Friday suffering from
stress shortly after learning of allegations that Mr Hollande had spent
nights in a flat near the Elysée Palace with an actress.
The 48-year-old’s office said she had gone into hospital to “get some rest and
have some tests done” and would be discharged today.
The 59-year-old president has threatened to sue Closer magazine for breach of
privacy but has not denied the affair with Julie Gayet, 41, who has two
children with her estranged husband.
On Sunday Mediapart, a website that has broken several stories that rocked the
French establishment, said the apartment he used was linked to the Corsican
mafia.
It said the name on the rental lease was that of Michel Ferracci, who in
November was given an 18-month suspended sentence in connection with a
inquiry into money laundering.
Mediapart said the apartment was lent to Ms Gayet, 41, by her friend Emmanuelle Hauck, the former wife of Mr Ferracci, who
It added that since separating from her husband, Ms Hauck had lived with François Masini, another Corsican with mafia links who was shot dead last May.
Other media reports had said the apartment was owned by the wife of a French business tycoon and had been used by various politicians for romantic trysts.
Miss Trierweiler, a journalist for the magazine Paris Match for whom Mr Hollande left fellow Socialist politician Ségolène Royal, has made no comment since the story of the alleged affair broke.
The focus will now shift to the president’s traditional start of the year press conference tomorrow to hear what he might have to say about the alleged affair and what it means for his relationship with his unmarried partner.
If he announces it is over, the “First Girlfriend” would have to leave the Elysée, where she has an office and a staff of five. If he does not she would still be in the embarrassing position of putting on a brave face as France snickers about Mr Hollande’s alleged antics.
“The French have the right to know who is the first lady. From the moment the president lodges a woman in the Elysée and she is paid and has a staff and accompanies him on trips abroad, that is a matter of public concern,” Daniel Fasquelle, an opposition UMP party deputy, told The Daily Telegraph.
“Instead of making romantic conquests he should be looking out for the French who are suffering due to economic crisis,” he added, a rare exception to the wave of support Mr Hollande has received from friends and foes alike who profess to be outraged at the invasion of his privacy.
Though many French have been fascinated by the romantic intrigue in the Elysee, an opinion poll on Sunday showed that a clear majority think the president’s love life is not an issue of public concern.
The survey by IFOP said 77 per cent of voters believe the alleged affair Miss Gayet revealed by a gossip magazine was a private matter.
Eighty-four percent said it would not change their opinion of the leader whose failure to turn around the ailing economy and bring down stubbornly high unemployment has made him the most unloved French president in modern history.
“He is so unpopular that it hasn’t changed a thing,” Frederic Dabi of IFOP told the Journal du Dimanche, the paper that commissioned the poll which confirmed France’s famed tolerance towards the colourful love lives of its leaders.
Miss Royal on Sunday refused to comment on the alleged affair, saying she did not want to fuel the debate on “a soap opera that is very far from the concerns of the French”.
“We must turn the page and get back to work,” she told France 2 television.
Mediapart said the apartment was lent to Ms Gayet, 41, by her friend Emmanuelle Hauck, the former wife of Mr Ferracci, who
It added that since separating from her husband, Ms Hauck had lived with François Masini, another Corsican with mafia links who was shot dead last May.
Other media reports had said the apartment was owned by the wife of a French business tycoon and had been used by various politicians for romantic trysts.
Miss Trierweiler, a journalist for the magazine Paris Match for whom Mr Hollande left fellow Socialist politician Ségolène Royal, has made no comment since the story of the alleged affair broke.
The focus will now shift to the president’s traditional start of the year press conference tomorrow to hear what he might have to say about the alleged affair and what it means for his relationship with his unmarried partner.
If he announces it is over, the “First Girlfriend” would have to leave the Elysée, where she has an office and a staff of five. If he does not she would still be in the embarrassing position of putting on a brave face as France snickers about Mr Hollande’s alleged antics.
“The French have the right to know who is the first lady. From the moment the president lodges a woman in the Elysée and she is paid and has a staff and accompanies him on trips abroad, that is a matter of public concern,” Daniel Fasquelle, an opposition UMP party deputy, told The Daily Telegraph.
“Instead of making romantic conquests he should be looking out for the French who are suffering due to economic crisis,” he added, a rare exception to the wave of support Mr Hollande has received from friends and foes alike who profess to be outraged at the invasion of his privacy.
Though many French have been fascinated by the romantic intrigue in the Elysee, an opinion poll on Sunday showed that a clear majority think the president’s love life is not an issue of public concern.
The survey by IFOP said 77 per cent of voters believe the alleged affair Miss Gayet revealed by a gossip magazine was a private matter.
Eighty-four percent said it would not change their opinion of the leader whose failure to turn around the ailing economy and bring down stubbornly high unemployment has made him the most unloved French president in modern history.
“He is so unpopular that it hasn’t changed a thing,” Frederic Dabi of IFOP told the Journal du Dimanche, the paper that commissioned the poll which confirmed France’s famed tolerance towards the colourful love lives of its leaders.
Miss Royal on Sunday refused to comment on the alleged affair, saying she did not want to fuel the debate on “a soap opera that is very far from the concerns of the French”.
“We must turn the page and get back to work,” she told France 2 television.
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