French President François Hollande addresses a news conference at the Elysée Palace in Paris last Tuesday. Hollande’s encounter with journalists was his first public appearance since celebrity magazine Closer published photos it claimed showed Hollande making a nocturnal visit to actress Julie Gayet. Photo: Reuters/Philippe Wojazer

Tuesday’s press conference at the Elysée Palace by French President François Hollande – which was widely awaited because it was meant to set out a new economic direction after a period of low growth and high unemployment – was overshadowed somewhat by allegations made by Closer magazine about Hollande’s love life.

Closer printed a seven-page spread of photos, which suggested that actress Julie Gayet, 41, (who appeared in one of Hollande’s 2012 election campaign commercials describing the then presidential candidate as “marvellous”) and Hollande, 59, were having an affair. Hollande’s official partner, meanwhile, Valerie Trierweiler, 48, who is France’s First Lady and who lives at the Elysée, was hospitalised after collapsing when the allegations surfaced.

Hollande did not deny the magazine report but said he had a right to privacy like any other French citizen and was looking into the possibility of legal action against Closer. He also emphasised that many couples go through “difficult situations” in their private life.

The President did say, however, that he would clarify who holds the title of France’s First Lady ahead of his visit to the US next month, which in a way is an implied recognition that his private life is as matter of public concern.

The press in France, like the media in Malta and other continental European countries, usually has a tradition of showing respect for the privacy of politicians, unlike its counterparts in Britain and the US. Furthermore, it is a criminal offence in France to publish an individual’s private details without their consent.

However, on this occasion, Closer chose to set aside this tradition and ignore the law on privacy because it believed Hollande’s conduct was of public concern for two main reasons: the President’s security and the status of France’s First Lady, a position funded by the taxpayer.

These allegations could hardly have come at a worse time for Hollande

It is alleged that Hollande used to travel to Gayet’s flat (not far from the Elysée) on a moped (his crash helmet would hide his identity) driven by a bodyguard.

One can definitely argue that in this age of terrorism, Hollande took unnecessary risks and his ill-judgement could have created a security issue. When confronted about this at his press conference, however, his response was simply: “No reason to worry. I was perfectly safe.”

The issue of the First Lady will need to be clarified soon, preferably well ahead of Hollande’s visit to the US in February. Hollande is not married to Trierweiler, a journalist for whom he left his partner, fellow Socialist Ségolène Royal, the mother of his four children, in 2007.

The French public has a right to know whether this position is still occupied by Trierweiler or whether Gayet, a separated mother-of-two – who according to Closer has been seeing Hollande for two years – will now assume this role. In her role as First Lady, Trierweiler has an office at the Elysée as well as a staff of six, all funded by the taxpayer, as well as other perks.

These allegations could hardly have come at a worse time for Hollande; he is a deeply unpopular President with a low approval rating of 26 per cent. Although this latest affair has not affected his standing in the polls, it has now emerged that Gayet is a business partner of one of the wealthiest men in France, billionaire François Pinault, an investor in Cinemaphore, a production company set up last year. For a person who claimed to “dislike the rich”, this will no doubt cause further embarrassment for Hollande.

Hollande dedicated most of his press conference to measures his government would be taking to boost the economy. Since 2012, he has pursued largely left-wing economic policies with an emphasis on high taxes and high public spending; this strategy has failed, and the President last Tuesday pledged to introduce some drastic new policies, such as a cut of €30 billion from French companies’ labour charges (funding the country’s family welfare system) and plans to cut public spending by €50 billion between 2015 and 2017.

Both these proposals are a step in the right direction and have been given a cautious welcome by French businesses as well as the Opposition centre-right UMP party, although it was stressed that more was needed to improve the country’s competitiveness. “If it is serious, we have to support this initiative,” said François Baroin, finance minister under former president Nicolas Sarkozy. Significantly, Hollande’s own Socialist Party gave a muted response to the proposals, and the leader of the Left Front, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, called on Socialist Party members to oppose what he called “this programme of the right”.

Only time will tell whether Hollande’s announcement last week marked the start of a more pro-business centrist outlook by the President, who during his press conference described himself as a “Social Democrat”, not a Socialist. Some analysts are already comparing this ‘new’ approach to President François Mitterrand’s U-turn in 1983 in which he adopted a more pragmatic economic policy.

It is important that Hollande sticks to his new chosen path and proves that he is serious about reforming the French economy and cutting down on spending. There are three more years before the next presidential election, so time is still on his side. On foreign policy, for example, Hollande has acted with courage and determination; if he could do the same with his economic policy he might just turn the economy around.

Before anything, however, he needs to make a decision about the First Lady, and remove a potential distraction to implementing his latest economic policies.