Paris - French Socialist Party presidential hopeful Segolene
Royal demanded Tuesday that rumours about her longtime relationship
with party chief Francois Hollande cease.
'It is important that the rumours stop, that we are left in
peace,' she told Europe 1 radio. 'Every day we hear something new
about our relationship. The French people are tired of this intrusion
into our private lives.'
The 53-year-old Royal and the 52-year-old Hollande have been a
couple for 26 years and have four children, though they have never
married.
Since Royal has been nominated as the Socialist presidential
candidate, many political observers have wondered how this would
affect their relationship, since Hollande reportedly also had coveted
the nomination.
In addition, their relationship has been the source of some
discord in her electoral campaign.
When Hollande declared that if the Socialists come to power this
year, they will roll back a tax decrease enacted by the conservative
government on those earning more than 4,000 euros (5,200 dollars) per
month, Royal replied, 'I'm not in favour of raising taxes.'
And she suspended her spokesman, Arnaud Montebourg, last week
after he said jokingly on a television talk show, 'Segolene Royal has
only one flaw - her partner.'
These missteps helped fuel discussion, both in the media and on
the internet, about a romantic rift and even separate apartments for
the two.
One right-wing blog, Jakouille la Fripouille, declared 'Segolene
Royal and Francois Hollande have separated,' and went on to castigate
'the bogus Royal-Hollande couple' for 'treating the French people
like imbeciles' by pretending they were still together.
On Tuesday, Royal denounced what she called 'internet
manipulations by certain parliamentarians' of the UMP party of her
rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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