Royal says Sarkozy linked to burglary

Former socialist presidential candidate Ségolène Royal has said President Sarkozy was ‘connected’ to a burglary of her flat last month.

Speaking on France 2 Royal said it was a “strange coincidence” that the break-in took place the day after she had attacked Sarkozy.

"I note that last week, a day after I said we needed to end the Sarkozy clan's grip on France, my home was turned upside down.

“I draw a connection between the two," said Royal.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon Wednesday said Royal was "losing control of herself", in an interview on RTL radio, accusing her of making insinuations "without any form of proof."

Sarkozy's ruling right-wing UMP party also issued a statement saying it was "outraged by Ms Royal's shameful comments."

"There are limits, of defamation and slander, that no one should cross, especially for a former candidate for the presidency of the Republic."

Spokesmen for both parties have traded insults.

For the UMP, Frédéric Lefebvre, said Royal had overstepped the boundaries.

“The gravity of these accusations of Ms Royal is shows she is losing it,” he added.

In response the spokeswoman for the Socialist Party Aurélie Filippetti said: “In the France of Nicolas Sarkozy you can now break in to a house of a prominent figure of the opposition and this brings nothing but hilarity for spokesmen.”

“The France of Nicolas Sarkozy is the television of Berlusconi and the methods of Putin,” she said.

Former socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius distanced himself from Royal's remarks.

"Either what she said is absolutely accurate, in which case it is clearly scandalous, or it is not accurate in which case she should not say it," he told Europe 1 radio.

Royal is vying to take the helm of the Socialist Party in November and has said she hopes to run for the French presidency again in 2012.

Polls place her behind her rivals the Mayor of Paris Betrand Delanoë and the Mayor of Lille and daughter of Jacques Delors Martine Aubry.

Last week Royal was accused of “playground politics” and “unstatemanlike behaviour” after she said that President Sarkozy had “nothing to do” with the release of hostage Ingrid Betancourt.
In May this year the magazine L’Express revealed that the head of the la Ligue communiste révolutionnaire (LCR) and former presidential candidate Oliver Besancenot has been spied on.

In June the head of the CGT union Bernard Thibault found a device on the base of his car which he claimed was for tracking and listening.

Photo:Marie-Lan Nguyen