Sarkozy speaks of joy over birth
Source: Agencies |
October 21, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
PROUD papa Nicolas Sarkozy, the first French president to have a baby while in office, said yesterday he and wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy feel "a very profound happiness" over the birth of their first child, adding that mother and daughter are doing well.
It was the French leader's first official comments about the birth, which took place on Wednesday at a maternity clinic in Paris. He did not give the baby's name, in keeping with the couple's coyness throughout the pregnancy and labor.
"We are lucky to have been blessed with a new arrival," Sarkozy said. "All parents can understand the very profound happiness Carla and I feel, and at the same time everyone can understand that this happiness is all the more profound because it is private."
Privacy has been the guiding principle of the baby's hush-hush birth. Police officers posted outside the maternity clinic over past weeks have kept journalists at bay. Tight control over news of the birth appears to be part of a strategy aimed at portraying Sarkozy as fully absorbed in resolving the problems gripping France and Europe.
The eurozone debt crisis took priority over the baby on Wednesday, as Sarkozy jetted off to Frankfurt for a last-minute meeting with the German chancellor while his wife was in labor.
He was absent for the child's birth shortly before 8pm local time but visited the clinic on his return to Paris. He also made an early morning visit yesterday.
Asked about the baby's name, Sarkozy said he will "allow the mother the pleasure of telling you herself." Bruni-Sarkozy has vowed to keep her baby out of the spotlight and pledged not to release photographs of the infant.
In a letter to Sarkozy, UK Prime Minister David Cameron told the French leader he and his wife Samantha were "thrilled to hear the news."
It is not clear whether Sarkozy's new daughter might help bolster his dismal approval ratings. In France, politicians' private lives have historically remained private.
It was the French leader's first official comments about the birth, which took place on Wednesday at a maternity clinic in Paris. He did not give the baby's name, in keeping with the couple's coyness throughout the pregnancy and labor.
"We are lucky to have been blessed with a new arrival," Sarkozy said. "All parents can understand the very profound happiness Carla and I feel, and at the same time everyone can understand that this happiness is all the more profound because it is private."
Privacy has been the guiding principle of the baby's hush-hush birth. Police officers posted outside the maternity clinic over past weeks have kept journalists at bay. Tight control over news of the birth appears to be part of a strategy aimed at portraying Sarkozy as fully absorbed in resolving the problems gripping France and Europe.
The eurozone debt crisis took priority over the baby on Wednesday, as Sarkozy jetted off to Frankfurt for a last-minute meeting with the German chancellor while his wife was in labor.
He was absent for the child's birth shortly before 8pm local time but visited the clinic on his return to Paris. He also made an early morning visit yesterday.
Asked about the baby's name, Sarkozy said he will "allow the mother the pleasure of telling you herself." Bruni-Sarkozy has vowed to keep her baby out of the spotlight and pledged not to release photographs of the infant.
In a letter to Sarkozy, UK Prime Minister David Cameron told the French leader he and his wife Samantha were "thrilled to hear the news."
It is not clear whether Sarkozy's new daughter might help bolster his dismal approval ratings. In France, politicians' private lives have historically remained private.
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