{"id":35584,"date":"2017-08-08T13:07:37","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T13:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=35584"},"modified":"2017-08-08T13:07:37","modified_gmt":"2017-08-08T13:07:37","slug":"french-president-macron-wants-to-give-a-role-to-his-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=35584","title":{"rendered":"French president Macron wants to give a role to his wife"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"French-President-Macron\"International desk: French President Emmanuel Macron wants to formalize the role of the president's wife amid controversy over the cost and status of the first lady.<\/p>\n

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The president's office is preparing a formal communication in coming days, Brigitte Macron's office said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

During his presidential campaign, the 39-year-old outspoken centrist promised more “transparency” on the issue. France's first lady doesn't have an official status.<\/p>\n

As the president's popularity drops in polls, more than 270,000 people have signed a petition in the past few weeks against the plan to grant a tax-funded budget to finance his wife's activities.<\/p>\n

Brigitte Macron currently has an office at the Elysee palace and a staff composed of two advisers and two secretaries, as well as bodyguards.<\/p>\n

Publicly, she is mostly seen at her husband's side.<\/p>\n

The status of the president's partner appears to be a sensitive issue in France following a series of scandals in the past few decades, including Macron predecessor Francois Hollande's complex private life.<\/p>\n

There hasn't been a presidential spouse in the Elysee Palace since 2012, when former President Nicolas Sarkozy and his supermodel wife Carla Bruni left.<\/p>\n

Hollande entered office in 2012 with his girlfriend Valerie Trierweiler at his side, but she left him after a tabloid magazine exposed Hollande's secret affair with actress Julie Gayet in 2014.<\/p>\n

Gayet has never publicly appeared by Hollande's side.<\/p>\n

Macron once said he wants to end “French hypocrisy” about the status of presidential spouses. The person living with the president “must be able to play a role and be recognized for that role” but wouldn't be paid for it, he said before his election.<\/p>\n

Macron has created an inseparable team with his wife Brigitte during his presidential campaign, a move more often seen on American political stages than in France.<\/p>\n

Brigitte Macron, 64, a former teacher at Emmanuel Macron's high school, attended most of her husband's rallies. The president doesn't hide that she is also his close political adviser.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International desk: French President Emmanuel Macron wants to formalize the role of the president’s wife amid controversy over the cost and status of the first lady. The president’s office is preparing a formal communication in coming days, Brigitte Macron’s office said Tuesday. During his presidential campaign, the 39-year-old outspoken centrist promised more “transparency” on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n