Sarkozy Plans to Sue Media for Revealing Lover's Identity

France's interior minister and would-be president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his new partner, a political journalist on the conservative daily Le Figaro, said yesterday they planned to sue French news media who had revealed the woman's identity.

Marking a further break with the media's traditional discretion concerning the private lives of political figures, the tabloid France Soir named the minister's girlfriend on Tuesday. The national news agency AFP picked up the story.

"These articles plainly violate the right to privacy of my clients," said the couple's lawyer, Olivier Chatel. "I have received instructions to take all legal measures necessary, including recourse to the courts, to protect the privacy of both of them."

Until recently, French journalists have avoided reporting politicians' amorous adventures. A veil has been drawn over President Jacques Chirac's affairs, referred to by his wife in a book two years ago, while François Mitterrand's adulterous relationship with Anne Pingeot, and the existence of their daughter Mazarine, were kept quiet until a year before his death.

Ironically, Mr Sarkozy himself has done much to break the taboo, promoting his marital bliss with his wife Cecilia in gossip magazines over the past three years.

The tables were turned this summer when Paris Match published pictures of Cecilia, 47, with her lover, Richard Attias. Mr Sarkozy was reportedly livid. The Sarkozys are now separated. His new partner is a political correspondent who until recently followed the minister's UMP party. She has now changed beats to avoid a conflict of interests.