PARIS – Scrambling to limit damage from scandals over ministers’ holidays in Tunisia and Egypt, French President Nicolas Sarkozy gives a TV interview on Thursday to smooth the bumps at the start of a big year. With the lines already being drawn for his re-election battle in 2012, and no sign of a rise in his low approval rating, Sarkozy is to field citizens’ questions and is expected to speak for the first time on the holidays affair.
The hottest topic facing him is the admission by his prime minister and foreign minister that they accepted hospitality while on holiday in Tunisia and Egypt weeks before France endorsed popular uprisings in those countries. He also faces an unprecedented strike by magistrates who say he stepped out of line and infringed their independence by criticising the handling of the recent case of a young woman allegedly murdered by a repeat offender.
