A very French scandal

Last June President Sarkozy, some say influenced by his wife Carla Bruni, drafted Frédéric Mitterrand – a nephew of late French President François Mitterrand- into his cabinet to become France Culture Minister. Probably Sarkozy could not imagine that a few months after a scandal would broke out with some politicians asking that his minister steps down. Mr Mitterrand who is openly gay wrote an autobiography in 2005 , The Bad Life, whose revelations have come back to haunt him after he emerged as a strong defender of Roman Polanski, the film director currently detained in Switzerland. It would seem that Mr Mitterrand admitted that he had been a sex tourist in Thailand. Even so, he went on national television vowing to stay in his job and saying that while he had paid to have sexual relations with young male prostitutes, one must not confuse pedophilia with homosexuality. He said as well that he had met with President Sarkozy and that the president supports him. According to a new poll 67 percent of those questioned do not want Mitterrand to step down with only 20 percent wanting him to resign.