2012-02-14 12:50:11
A French mayor's plan to erect a statue of President Nicolas Sarkozy's former
supermodel wife Carla Bruni in worker's attire has angered the opposition and
embarrassed the first lady.
Jacques Martin, the mayor of Nogent-sur-Marne to the east of Paris and member
of Sarkozy's UMP party, commissioned the statue to honour the mostly Italian
immigrant women who used to work at a feather factory in the town.
But when French daily Le Parisien on Sunday revealed the plan for the statue
more than two metres (six-and-a-half feet) tall, at a cost of over 80,000
euros, the opposition and even the first lady's friends were up in arms.
A source close to Bruni-Sarkozy said she agreed to model for sculptor Elisabeth
Cibot as she admires her work, but that "it was never suggested that her name
would appear."
Modelling "is her former job, she no longer does it commercially, but she's
often asked to do it, and she often agrees, and always without being paid," the
source said.
But the swiftly gathering scandal "is using something that has nothing to do
with politics to political ends," one of her friends said, requesting
anonymity.
William Geib of the Socialist opposition said the idea of dressing up a
likeness of the Italian heiress and pop singer as a worker was "grotesque."
"It's an insult to the Italian feather workers, to give them the face of an
extremely rich person. I have nothing against Carla Bruni-Sarkozy but she does
not represent the workers' world."
Michel Gilles, a local member of the right-wing opposition, slammed what he
said was a "political coup" ahead of the April-May two-round presidential
election, which opinion polls say right-wing leader Sarkozy is likely to lose.
Martin said he voted in favour of the statue at a council meeting last year.
"But it was never mentioned that it would have Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's features,"
Gilles said.
The statue is reportedly costing 82,000 euros (108,000 dollars), of which the
town hall is paying 41,000 euros, and exactly what it will look like is being
kept top secret.