Last week the latest
saga in what has been described by the Telegraph as a “catfight” between the
current and former lovers of France’s recent President Francois Hollande took a
turn for the public and has raised interesting questions about politics and the
roles that love, sex and infidelity have to play in the French political arena.
The tensions between
Hollande’s former partner Segolene Royal and the current First ‘Girlfriend’ of
France, Valerie Trierweiler, are no different to tensions that would surround
any relationship between two women in one mans life. Yet what distinguishes
this relationship and to a certain extent causes alarm is that all players are
significant political figures and the prize is no longer Hollande but the
French public.
In the past we have
seen politicians use the personal lives of opponents to win an election. No one
will forget the infamous speech President Bill Clinton was force to make after
his affair with an employee was discovered yet France has failed to recognize that
whilst the public look to the women beside politicians, personal scandals can
do no favours and the “C’est la vie” attitude we have come to expect just
doesn’t cut it in current political climes.
Looking at last week’s
French parliamentary election in which Royal was running, this is evident. With
starkly different political policies to his predecessor and the recent
questioning of relations between France and Germany, the French elections were
an opportunity for Hollande to promote a sense of direction and calm for a
general public clearly unimpressed with the actions of Sarkozy. Trierweiler,
however, deflected any news of the political outcome with, what one can only
suspect as, a calculated tweet in support of Royal’s opponent. Where Clinton,
Obama, Cameron and all others would be in public overdrive, Hollande of course
has said nothing.
Whilst Twitter is the
forum in which meaningless isms are posted on a regular basis, the decision to
open fire on issues relating to politics when they should be personal is a
dangerous one yet one that frequently occurs in France. One has only to look at
the history of the French monarchy to see how the indulgence in women and sex
left government estranged to its people. And let’s not forget former President
Nicolas Sarzoky, his high profile divorce and his marriage to former model
Carla Bruni.
Marrying Bruni soon
after his messy divorce to another presidential hopeful, Sarkozy portrayed a
man more interested in women than in politics. In 2008 Sarkozy’s popularity was
steadily in decline due to the view that the President was ignoring his country
to have fun with his new wife. Sarkozy’s visit to England in 2010 was an
opportunity to discuss a deeper relationship between the two countries, yet all
politics was forgotten when a picture of a naked Carla Bruni went on sale at
Christies. Whilst Sarkozy publicly showed disappointment one can only a suspect
smugness in the man who paraded his wife around as an example of his pulling
power.
Jacques George, author
of Sex et Politique, has claimed when discussing France “To come to power, you
have to seduce, and to stay there, you have to prove yourself vigoureux.” Is
this the correct way forward? Should Sarkozy and Hollande have mixed politics
and sex? Whilst every country has its scandals in parliament, one can’t help
but think that France continues to take it too far.
It seems that England
has trouble separating Media and State, America continue to confuse Church and
State and France seem to think that the State takes place in the bedroom. Only
time will tell if France will tire of the scandals of Hollande as they did so
with Sarkozy.
