Sarkozy and Bruni feel ?deep joy? over new baby

PARIS?? French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday he and first lady Carla Bruni were deeply happy over their baby daughter, the first official confirmation of the birth, but added he will leave it to his wife to reveal the girl's name.

Speaking to reporters during a trip to the town of Mayenne in northwestern France, following two visits to see his wife and baby, Sarkozy said they wanted to keep the arrival of their first child together a private matter.

"All of you who are parents can understand the very deep joy that Carla and I feel. Each one of you can also understand that it's an even deeper joy because it is private," he said.

"We have been lucky to have a very happy event take place," he said. "I will just keep to these few brief words to say to you that they are doing very well."

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   5. Sarkozy and Bruni feel ?deep joy? over new baby

Sarkozy and his office have kept silent throughout Bruni's pregnancy, despite high interest in what is the first baby ever born to a French presidential couple in office, with Sarkozy intent on repairing an image many see as too brash and informal.

Late Wednesday evening, the French media reported that France's first lady Carla Bruni had given birth to a baby girl.

Europe 1 radio and BFM television said Bruni gave birth at around 8 p.m. local time after being admitted earlier in the day to the La Muette maternity clinic in central Paris.

Late Wednesday, President Sarkozy returned from a brief trip to Frankfurt and entered the clinic. Sarkozy was in Frankfurt for talks with his German counterpart Angela Merkel and EU officials on Franco-German efforts to put together a plan to stem the euro zone debt crisis.

Story: Two good! Twins give birth less than an hour apart

Sarkozy may have raised eyebrows among family-minded voters, however, for jumping on a plane to Frankfurt while Bruni was in labor, returning later in the evening and briefly visiting her and the baby in the maternity clinic.

He returned on Thursday morning, but for less than an hour and did not appear to have flowers or other gifts.

Defence Minister Gerard Longuet told Tele Sarkozy was "very happy" and this could only be a good thing for both the ruling conservatives and the country.

Boost his popularity ratings?
France has been on tenterhooks for weeks over the impending birth, which could give Sarkozy's image a welcome boost just over six months before a presidential election opinion polls show he could lose to Socialist challenger Francois Hollande.

Sarkozy's popularity ratings have been stuck at just above 30 percent for months, despite his leadership on issues like the Libyan crisis, with many French angry at economic gloom and resentful of a leadership style many see as impulsive and brash.

An opinion poll by CSA published on Wednesday, the first since Hollande was picked at the weekend to run for the left in next April's presidential election, found Hollande could beat Sarkozy by 62 percent to 38 percent if the two faced off in a second-round runoff vote.

First lady: I hope I don?t mess my daughters up

The poll gave Hollande 35 percent support for the first-round vote in April against 25 percent for Sarkozy.

A separate poll by Harris Interactive found that Sarkozy was still the best-placed candidate to run for the ruling UMP party, backed by 47 percent of respondents for a hypothetical UMP primary versus 19 percent for Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and 12 percent for Prime Minister Francois Fillon.

His daughter's birth coincides with one of the most crucial weeks of Sarkozy's four-year presidency as he battles to hammer out a plan with Germany to stem the euro zone's debt crisis before a self-imposed deadline on Sunday.

Pollsters say that as well as his handling of the euro crisis, the image Sarkozy projects to voters in the months ahead will be crucial for his reelection prospects next April.

Many in France found his high-speed courtship of Bruni, a singer-songwriter and former model, distasteful coming so soon after his divorce from his second wife, Cecilia, but Sarkozy kept carefully quiet about Bruni's pregnancy.

Media coverage has been incessant, however, a novelty in France, where a president's private life is usually kept private.

Sarkozy has three children from his two previous marriages, while Italian-born Bruni has a son from a former relationship.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44961490/ns/world_news/

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