LES SAINTES MARIES DE LA MER - President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday sidestepped questions about his reported romance with singer and ex-supermodel Carla Bruni which has grabbed headlines in France.
On a visit to the southern Camargue region, Sarkozy waxed poetic about the environment after touring a museum in a nature park when a reporter asked: "Speaking of the environment, I understand yours has changed."
Just as Sarkozy was about to answer, he became tangled in some tree branches and cut short the impromptu news conference.
French newspapers on Tuesday reported for a second day on the "fairy tale" love story between Sarkozy and 38-year-old Bruni, an elegant brunette who is also heiress to an Italian tyre manufacturing fortune.
The president's office has declined to comment on a series of photographs taken of the pair during a visit to the Disneyland theme park near Paris at the weekend.
The photos are to be published on the covers of at least three celebrity magazines this week and one of the editors has suggested that they are a deliberate attempt by the Elysee to bring the romance out into the open, two months after the president's divorce from his second wife Cecilia.
After visiting officials at the local town hall, Sarkozy was again asked whether the media attention surrounding his relationship with Carla Bruni bothered him.
"You want me to comment on the media?" Sarkozy asked. Pressed again, he tersely answered: "No, I'm not bothered," before being whisked away by his bodyguards.
Italy's La Stampa newspaper reported that Sarkozy had asked Bruni to marry him, quoting the former model's mother.
The Progres de Lyon newspaper told its readers to "have no doubt, knowing our president, there will be other first ladies, and they too will be beautiful and famous."
pa/cml/ec/smc
12/18/2007 16:16 GMT