September 3, 2013 file photo showing French President Francois Hollande and his partner Valerie Trierweiler at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris.
Paris:
Concern over the well-being of Valerie Trierweiler mounted on Thursday as the official partner of President Francois Hollande remained in hospital and it emerged that he had not visited her.
Trierweiler has spent almost a week in a Paris clinic being treated for stress. She was admitted last Friday just hours after it was revealed that her partner Hollande had been having an affair with actress Julie Gayet.
Aides to France's de facto First Lady said earlier this week that she had been hospitalised for tests, adding after her stay was extended that she needed further rest.
They have since released no further details of her condition and Hollande's only comment on her health was a terse, "she's resting", during a press conference on Tuesday at which he batted away questions about the affair and its implications.
A source close to the couple told AFP that Hollande had not been to visit Trierweiler in hospital and confirmed media suggestions that the couple's relationship had been unravelling for months before the revelation of the affair.
It is not clear however if he has decided to stay away or if she is refusing to let him visit.
Citing journalist friends of Trierweiler who have been in touch with her, Europe 1 radio described the former Paris Match political reporter as being in a state of nervous exhaustion characterised by extreme mood swings.
The usually reliable station also reported that she was preoccupied with the idea that "enemies" at the presidential Elysee Palace must have conspired to ensure Hollande's affair became public with the aim of forcing her out.
A number of media reports have cited Elysee aides as hinting that they believe her hospitalisation amounts to "emotional blackmail" designed to prevent Hollande from dumping her.
Paris Match still employs Trierweiler although she put her political reporting career on hold after Hollande took office in 2012, switching instead to a regular literary column.
Increasingly lonely and isolated
In an account of the last week's developments, France's best-known magazine give a sympathetic account of the central role Trierweiler played in giving Hollande the self-belief to make the leap from being a Socialist party apparatchik to successful presidential candidate.
But it also depicts a relationship in its death throes, describing how Trierweiler became increasingly isolated and lonely as Hollande grappled with the pressures of office, which have been exacerbated by a stagnant economy and his plummeting approval ratings.
"Slowly the spiral of the nation's problems swallowed up the couple's intimacy," the magazine reported.
Paris Match published a series of pictures which appear to illustrate the couple, who have been together since 2005, growing increasingly estranged since Hollande took office. The images are reminiscent of those taken of the late Princess Diana prior to her separation from Britain's Prince Charles.
A source who has known Hollande for most of his political career said the view at the Elysee Palace was that he had emerged as well as could be expected from Tuesday's press conference, the mainstream media having quickly switched their attention to economic reforms seen as a significant change of direction by the government.
But aides are pressing him to quickly state whether or not he is still in a relationship with Trierweiler.
"The problem is that he cannot say anything for as long as she is in hospital," the source said, adding that he believed Hollande could simply declare that he was now a "single president" in a move that would prevent the issue of any girlfriend's status from coming up in the future.
Hollande's predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile is reported to be delighted by the recent turn of events, as he contemplates a political comeback which could see him go head-to-head with Hollande once more in the 2017 presidential election.
Sarkozy, who separated from his wife Cecilia and started a relationship with supermodel Carla Bruni during his term of office, said he would never have made the mistake of being photographed, as Hollande was, turning up for secret trysts.
"That is why I made things official with Carla quickly," Sarkozy was quoted as telling friends by satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine.
"When you are president of the Republic you have to be aware of the risk of looking ridiculous and these photos of Hollande in his motorbike helmet leaving his mistress's place has made him ridiculous. He is president ridiculous."
Trierweiler has spent almost a week in a Paris clinic being treated for stress. She was admitted last Friday just hours after it was revealed that her partner Hollande had been having an affair with actress Julie Gayet.
Aides to France's de facto First Lady said earlier this week that she had been hospitalised for tests, adding after her stay was extended that she needed further rest.
They have since released no further details of her condition and Hollande's only comment on her health was a terse, "she's resting", during a press conference on Tuesday at which he batted away questions about the affair and its implications.
A source close to the couple told AFP that Hollande had not been to visit Trierweiler in hospital and confirmed media suggestions that the couple's relationship had been unravelling for months before the revelation of the affair.
It is not clear however if he has decided to stay away or if she is refusing to let him visit.
Citing journalist friends of Trierweiler who have been in touch with her, Europe 1 radio described the former Paris Match political reporter as being in a state of nervous exhaustion characterised by extreme mood swings.
The usually reliable station also reported that she was preoccupied with the idea that "enemies" at the presidential Elysee Palace must have conspired to ensure Hollande's affair became public with the aim of forcing her out.
A number of media reports have cited Elysee aides as hinting that they believe her hospitalisation amounts to "emotional blackmail" designed to prevent Hollande from dumping her.
Paris Match still employs Trierweiler although she put her political reporting career on hold after Hollande took office in 2012, switching instead to a regular literary column.
Increasingly lonely and isolated
In an account of the last week's developments, France's best-known magazine give a sympathetic account of the central role Trierweiler played in giving Hollande the self-belief to make the leap from being a Socialist party apparatchik to successful presidential candidate.
But it also depicts a relationship in its death throes, describing how Trierweiler became increasingly isolated and lonely as Hollande grappled with the pressures of office, which have been exacerbated by a stagnant economy and his plummeting approval ratings.
"Slowly the spiral of the nation's problems swallowed up the couple's intimacy," the magazine reported.
Paris Match published a series of pictures which appear to illustrate the couple, who have been together since 2005, growing increasingly estranged since Hollande took office. The images are reminiscent of those taken of the late Princess Diana prior to her separation from Britain's Prince Charles.
A source who has known Hollande for most of his political career said the view at the Elysee Palace was that he had emerged as well as could be expected from Tuesday's press conference, the mainstream media having quickly switched their attention to economic reforms seen as a significant change of direction by the government.
But aides are pressing him to quickly state whether or not he is still in a relationship with Trierweiler.
"The problem is that he cannot say anything for as long as she is in hospital," the source said, adding that he believed Hollande could simply declare that he was now a "single president" in a move that would prevent the issue of any girlfriend's status from coming up in the future.
Hollande's predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile is reported to be delighted by the recent turn of events, as he contemplates a political comeback which could see him go head-to-head with Hollande once more in the 2017 presidential election.
Sarkozy, who separated from his wife Cecilia and started a relationship with supermodel Carla Bruni during his term of office, said he would never have made the mistake of being photographed, as Hollande was, turning up for secret trysts.
"That is why I made things official with Carla quickly," Sarkozy was quoted as telling friends by satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine.
"When you are president of the Republic you have to be aware of the risk of looking ridiculous and these photos of Hollande in his motorbike helmet leaving his mistress's place has made him ridiculous. He is president ridiculous."
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