PARIS - French commentators Tuesday read President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to publicise his romance with ex-supermodel Carla Bruni as a bid to divert attention from his political troubles with a "Christmas fairy tale".
European newspapers meanwhile gave irreverent coverage to the new romance -- dwelling on Bruni's reputation as a "man-eater" whose past conquests include rock stars Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton.
"It's going to be the Christmas fairy tale: Carla and Nicolas," wrote the popular French newspaper Le Parisien, a day after the release of photos showing Sarkozy, 52, and Bruni, 38, together at the Disneyland theme park near Paris.
"Like a true PR champion the president is trying to distract from the problems of his mandate," from France's economic doldrums to the controversy sparked by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's visit.
"The Libyan dictator's mug gives way as if by enchantment to a pretty little Italian face," wrote the Dauphine Libere.
Bruni, who will be 39 on Sunday, was born in Italy and is the heiress to a tyre manufacturing fortune. An elegant brunette, and mother of a young son, she was a top fashion model before turning to pop music.
Point de Vue, one of three celebrity magazines due to publish the photos, insists Sarkozy, whose 11-year marriage to his second wife Cecilia ended in a much-publicised divorce in October, wanted his new relationship to be known.
Italy's La Stampa newspaper reported that Sarkozy had asked Bruni to marry him, quoting the former model's mother.
French politicians declined to comment directly on the romance, but a spokesman for the opposition Socialists accused Sarkozy of putting his love life on display.
"The president has every right to have an eventful love life... but I would like these things to be kept separate," Julien Dray told i-Tele television.
French commentators registered little surprise at the president's new love interest, so soon after his divorce.
For the Republique du Centre, Sarkozy has "an ever-so-slightly macho need to put some 'virility' back into a job that does not go well with enforced celibacy."
The Progres de Lyon advised readers to "have no doubt, knowing our president, there will be other first ladies, and they too will be beautiful and famous."
The Sarkozy-Bruni story also made headlines across Europe.
"Left Bank girl and Right Bank boy: Now Sarkozy goes public with new amour," said the Guardian over a full-page report, referring to Bruni's ties to the Latin quarter art world.
The Independent and the Telegraph also gave prominent coverage to the story, while the Times' page three report was headlined "Bonjour, Madame le President? Sarko steps out with a famous man-eater."
Germany's mass-circulation tabloid Bild splashed the title "Sarkozy loves a top model... super-rich, super-clever, super-gorgeous... and 13 centimetres (five inches) taller than him."
"What would a man eater be without a head of state in her collection?" asked the left-wing Frankfurter Rundschau, while the Sueddeutsche Zeitung mused that "France's presidents know all about the erotic appeal of power."
Russia's pro-Kremlin Izvestia wrote that "Sarko is now the only single leader who can go out with a catwalk star on his arm without causing a scandal -- although he will make his fellow presidents and prime ministers jealous."
And in Switzerland, Le Temps published a comic strip showing two men in a bistrot. "Sarkozy's going out with Carla Bruni", one of them says, to which the other replies: "What, he's split up with Kadhafi already?"
bur-ec/ach
12/18/2007 13:07 GMT