Cecilia Sarkozy has challenged France's tradition of discreet first ladies by seeking an unprecedented political role. Tall and glamorous, the wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy caused a stir by travelling to Libya this week to help broker the release of Bulgarian medics convicted of infecting children with HIV.
Socialist opposition politicians condemned the trip as a media coup and said the first lady's role should be clearly defined, while glossy magazines celebrated "the triumph" of France's stylish new ambassador.
Cecilia has said little on her future role or the Libya trip, though her enigmatic smile has been plastered over the nation's frontpages, reinforcing an aura of mystery. Her first steps seem to reflect the same dynamism shown by her husband, dubbed "Super Sarko", despite once protesting she would be "bored" in the job.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Thursday it was entirely up to Sarkozy to decide who he sent on crisis missions. "Whether he confines a mission to a diplomat or his wife makes no difference," Fillon told RTL radio. "It's the president who has the legitimacy and who decides the envoys he wants to use to resolve a crisis."
A first lady's political involvement is a novelty in a country used to the low-profile style of Bernadette Chirac, whose husband Jacques handed over to Sarkozy in May after 12 years in power.
Danielle Mitterrand, wife of the late Socialist President Francois Mitterrand, spoke out on Cuba, development aid and set up a rights group, but her role was less politically sensitive than Cecilia Sarkozy's, analysts said.
"It's an unknown thing in France," said political scientist Emmanuel Le Masson. "Until now, the role of first ladies has essentially been confined to charity. Now, there's a change." "It's rather particular ... And it's happening without parliamentary controls, electoral legitimacy, or the nomination to a clear and precise post in diplomatic matters."
Cecilia's new role was even more unusual given she had been largely absent from her husband's election campaign. Media even reported she did not vote for him in the second round of the poll, something neither party have commented on in public.
"I don't see myself as a first lady. It bores me. I'm not politically correct," she told an interviewer two years ago as the couple's relationship entered a stormy phase.
She acted as an unpaid adviser when Sarkozy was finance minister in 2004 and headed his private office at the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party. Her key position in Sarkozy's inner circle appeared over when the couple separated in 2005. Both had affairs but reunited in January last year.
Commentators saw Cecilia's renewed involvement in political life as an extension of her husband's strategy of personal involvement in all policy areas. "Sarkozy is everywhere and getting involved in everything," the Les Echos business daily said. "Ministers, starting with the prime minister, are de facto eclipsed or turned into auxiliaries ... for example when the (prime minister) can only do the after-sales service for Cecilia Sarkozy's activities in Libya."
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