French President, Nicolas Sarkozy is facing his first presidential election round in April and knows that his that popularity is waning. In an effort to grab back some votes, he has announced that he will halve the intake of migrants from 180,000 per year to 100,000. “We can no longer find them accommodation, a job, a school” he said.
And he went further – he wants to limit the amount of welfare benefits paid to immigrant workers so that only those who have lived in the country for 10 years and worked for at least five, are eligible. An editorial in a popular newspaper said the French had ‘solidly and profoundly fallen out of love with the outgoing President.” But some think his attack on immigration may have come too late to save him and his attractive wife could be to blame.
When he was elected in 2007, he decided to celebrate with his rich and powerful friends at an upmarket restaurant on the Champs Elysee and his wife told journalists “We are modest people.” The comment was quickly picked up by the media and she is being likened to the royal Marie Antoinette who once said, when referring to the peasants who were starving, “Let them eat cake.”
Miss Bruni’s comment is quite bizarre considering the Italian-born beauty is the only benefactor of a multi-million dollar fortune built up by her father. She was also a very successful supermodel during the 1990’s.
Ms Bruni’s ‘modest’ claim has enraged the French and their contempt is seen on social media sites with comments like ‘What planet do they live on?” and “The hour of democratic judgement is coming.”
So I guess we could be saying goodbye to Mr Sarkozy in 2012.
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