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| French President Likely to Face Questioning Over Private Life | French President Likely to Face Questioning Over Private Life |
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| PARIS — President François Hollande faced one of the most delicate balancing acts of his political career on Tuesday at a New Year’s news conference — normally a showcase for public policy proposals, but now eclipsed by disclosures about his private life since reports of an affair surfaced last week. | PARIS — President François Hollande faced one of the most delicate balancing acts of his political career on Tuesday at a New Year’s news conference — normally a showcase for public policy proposals, but now eclipsed by disclosures about his private life since reports of an affair surfaced last week. |
| Mr. Hollande, who suffers some of the lowest popularity ratings in France’s modern history, said nothing about his personal life as he began addressing the televised news conference, packed with 500 journalists and members of his government. He launched immediately into the country’s protracted economic malaise. | |
| “France has lost economic strength over the past 10 years,” Mr. Hollande said, outlining a plan aimed at increasing jobs and production. “We have to start a battle, start a new stage, a new phase.” | |
| On Friday, a celebrity gossip magazine published what it said were photographs of Mr. Hollande being driven on a scooter to an assignation with an actress, Julie Gayet. On the same day, Mr. Hollande’s partner, Valérie Trierweiler, was admitted to hospital where her office said she planned to remain for a few days to recover from the shock of the disclosure. | |
| While many French citizens say Mr. Hollande is entitled to privacy — as he himself has protested, without denying the magazine’s allegations — the episode has spilled into the political arena with questioning about the status of Ms. Trierweiler as France’s unmarried first lady and the potential distraction from the country’s deepening economic woes. | While many French citizens say Mr. Hollande is entitled to privacy — as he himself has protested, without denying the magazine’s allegations — the episode has spilled into the political arena with questioning about the status of Ms. Trierweiler as France’s unmarried first lady and the potential distraction from the country’s deepening economic woes. |
| Figures in Mr. Hollande’s Socialist Party and others had said the political nature of the Tuesday news conference — a regular fixture in the nation’s calendar at which leaders can normally expect undivided attention to their policy agendas — should be preserved. | |
| “This is not a soap opera,” said Jean-Louis Borloo, leader of a centrist party. “It’s about time he seriously explained how he’s going to turn the country around.” | “This is not a soap opera,” said Jean-Louis Borloo, leader of a centrist party. “It’s about time he seriously explained how he’s going to turn the country around.” |
| Mr. Hollande had planned to devote the encounter with journalists to proposals to reduce unemployment and other economic measures, hoping to lift his fortunes as one of the least popular French presidents in decades. But, since Friday, the imbroglio surrounding his personal life has threatened to overshadow his efforts to reshape the policies of his first term. It has also drawn uncomfortable parallels with events in 2007 when questions began to be raised publicly about his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the singer Carla Bruni, whom Mr. Sarkozy later married. | Mr. Hollande had planned to devote the encounter with journalists to proposals to reduce unemployment and other economic measures, hoping to lift his fortunes as one of the least popular French presidents in decades. But, since Friday, the imbroglio surrounding his personal life has threatened to overshadow his efforts to reshape the policies of his first term. It has also drawn uncomfortable parallels with events in 2007 when questions began to be raised publicly about his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the singer Carla Bruni, whom Mr. Sarkozy later married. |
| Even earlier, President François Mitterrand was revealed to have maintained a secret family. | Even earlier, President François Mitterrand was revealed to have maintained a secret family. |
| David Assouline, a spokesman for the Socialist Party, said the news conference “must remain a major political event,” Reuters reported, signaling that Mr. Hollande was unlikely to address questions about his personal life. | David Assouline, a spokesman for the Socialist Party, said the news conference “must remain a major political event,” Reuters reported, signaling that Mr. Hollande was unlikely to address questions about his personal life. |
| Before he was elected in 2012, Mr. Hollande sought to position himself as a more “normal” person than his flamboyant predecessor. “Suddenly the French are discovering that he is like others, but in a less glorious manner, even a ridiculous manner,” Dominique Moïsi, a French political analyst, told The Associated Press. | Before he was elected in 2012, Mr. Hollande sought to position himself as a more “normal” person than his flamboyant predecessor. “Suddenly the French are discovering that he is like others, but in a less glorious manner, even a ridiculous manner,” Dominique Moïsi, a French political analyst, told The Associated Press. |