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Sarkozy calls for Franco-British Brotherhood, but his New Wife Proves a Distraction

by Dave Keating | March 26, 2008 at 03:22 am

483 views | 2 Recommendations | 1 comment

The French President Nicholas Sarkozy visited the UK today, bringing along his controversial new wife.

French President Nicolas
Sarkozy said he wanted to build a stronger alliance with Britain
and improve cooperation on illegal immigration, defence and the
economy during a two-day visit starting on Wednesday.

Sarkozy, accompanied by his new wife Carla Bruni, will be a
guest of Queen Elizabeth, address parliament and hold talks with
Prime Minister Gordon Brown during the first state visit by a
French president in more than a decade.

"I want a new Franco-British brotherhood," Sarkozy told the
BBC in an interview.

"Often it is our differences that are underlined and
underscored ... but we enjoy the same music, we like reading the
same authors, we have the same enemies throughout the world, we
have the same aspiration."

However it was Sarkozy's personal life that dominated the headlines both in France and Britain. For his visit with the queen he brought along his new wife, the Italian model/singer Carla Bruni. Sarkozy's very public courtship of Bruni following his dovirce has been met with widespread disaproval by the French, many of whom see the 'celebrity presidency' as unseemly. A nude photograph of Miss Bruni (one of many that are lurking about on the internet) is about to be sold at auction in New York.

A nude photo of the French First Lady Carla Bruni has been put up for auction at Christie's New York, just hours ahead of her and her husband President Nicolas Sarkozy's state visit to Britain.

The image, by photographer Michel Comte, shows a younger Miss Bruni facing the camera wearing no more than a thoughtful expression, her hands crossed at waist height to cover her modesty.

It is expected to fetch around £2,000 when it goes under the hammer on April 10.

The couple are to arrive in the UK on Wednesday for the start of their two-day state visit, and will be meeting the Queen and the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

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Caoimhin1

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:17 on March 26th, 2008

Dave Keating, I like this story. It's good stuff. Forget the headlines! Sarkozy is an interesting fellow. He will be assuming the Presidency of Europe this June, he has ongoing interests in Chad, Sudan and a dozen other African countries, and likes to rattle his sabre. He has signed deals all over Africa since becoming France's President last year for nuclear power plants, that is why he is in Britain. Recently he has offered his services to be an intermediary between China and Tibet while publically debating whether or not to boycott the Olympic Games. He is strengthening his military ties to each country he visits, Britain included, and is pushing for the newly re-invigorated Mediterranean Union with a heavy emphasis on defence and security issues. He denied the people of his own country the opportunity to have a democratic voice in the upcoming referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, which they over whelmingly rejected it in 2005, this is a lad who is seeking power beyond his capabilities!