Macron drops first lady proposal
FRANCE: French President Emmanuel Macron is preparing to back down over his plan to give his wife, Brigitte, a formal role as France’s first lady.
The reversal comes after the success of an online petition against the proposal, which has been signed by 270,000 people.
The petition, started by an obscure left-wing painter, set off alarm bells at the president’s office at a time when Macron’s approval rating was already slumping.
In an attempt to curtail the controversy, the 39-year-old head of state has abandoned his plan to introduce legislation to create a formal office of the first lady in France. Macron had even envisaged changing the constitution to give his 64-year-old wife formal professional status.
Aides now say the presidency will do nothing more than publish a ‘‘first lady’s charter’’ setting out Brigitte Macron’s role.
The president’s supporters insisted that his initial plan was an honest attempt to move towards good governance in a country steeped in hypocrisy, by setting out the role and cost of the first lady’s office. There was never a plan to pay her a salary, they said.
Macron’s team pointed out that French presidents’ wives have always had taxpayer-funded staff to help them reply to letters and to organise their diaries. But the arrangement has been informal, and the first lady’s staff do not appear on any official document.
First ladies have always been pricey, however. Valerie Trierweiler, the former partner of President Francois Hollande, had five staff at an annual cost to the taxpayer of €236,904. Carla BruniSarkozy, whose husband, Nicolas, was president between 2007 and 2012, had eight advisers whose wages cost the taxpayer €437,376 a year. She also employed two workers at taxpayer expense to manage her website.
The first lady charter is likely to say that she will fight inequality and help disabled children. It may also set out the cost to taxpayers of the staff who work for her at the Elysee Palace.
Advisers to Macron have begun a public relations exercise to salvage his wife’s reputation, briefing journalists that she makes weekly visits to worthy causes, such as a children’s hospital and a refuge for abandoned animals.
France’s nepotism scandal spread yesterday as the Senate’s nominee to the supreme court pulled out of the race after being accused of giving his daughter a fake taxpayer-funded job.