Sarkozy 'hooligan' headline outrage

THE POLITICAL right is outraged after current affairs magazine Marianne published a sinister-looking photo of President Sarkozy on its cover with a headline describing him as a "hooligan".

The cover, with the headline "Le Voyou de la République" (the hooligan of the republic) says that "no moral concerns hold [Sarkozy] back" and "he is ready to do anything to stay in power."

Family Minister Nadine Morano said the magazine was "insulting."

"A cover like that, that’s bad," she said. "What happened to respect for the head of state?"

UMP party MP Patrick Ollier said the magazine had itself behaved like "a hooligan of the press" and said the cover was a stunt to attract more readers because the magazine was in financial difficulty.

Another UMP colleague, Françoise Hostallier, said: "How can we expect young people to respect those in authority if they see the president dragged through the mud on the newsstands like that?"

Few left-wingers have been willing to support Marianne’s stance, though Socialist MP Pierre Moscovici said that Sarkozy had recently adopted some "dubious" attitudes.

"I wouldn't call him a hooligan, but he gives the impression of a watered-down Le Pen," he said on radio station RMC.

Marianne director Maurice Szafran told TV station France 24: "We just did our job and wrote what we think.

"If we had thought the cover might be bad for sales we would have printed it anyway."

He cited Sarkozy's recent speech in Grenoble, where he called for tougher measures against people of foreign origin who assault the police, as one which they had found especially "shocking and worrying."