Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Is France's president allowed to divorce?

PARIS - Persistent rumors that Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Cecilia, have taken steps toward separation set off a debate Wednesday over whether the constitution even allows a French president to divorce.

Rumors that the couple was on the verge of officially separating have spread for weeks. French media have widely reported the suspicions - with numerous "no comments" but no official denials.

On Wednesday, the respected newsweekly Le Nouvel Observateur reported on its Web site that Sarkozy, 52, and his 49-year-old wife appeared before a judge Monday and told him they are seeking a legal separation. The report did not cite any sources.

News channel LCI gave a different version of the story on its Web site. It said that Cecilia Sarkozy saw a judge alone Monday and that the judge later visited the presidential Elysee Palace to give Sarkozy a document to sign.

Two experts argued in a full-page commentary Wednesday in the daily Liberation that Article 67 of the constitution, added to bolster presidential protection, prevents anyone, including a spouse, from bringing a legal action against the president.

"Even divorce by mutual consent appears complicated" because of the strong legal protections designed to keep sitting presidents out of court, wrote Norbert Foulquier of the University of Evry and Vincent Valentin of the Sorbonne.

Other constitutional experts disagree.

Article 67 "is made to protect not the man, but the presidential function," said Didier Ribes, a specialist in constitutional law.

A president's divorce would be a "purely private procedure," he said. The constitution protects the freedom to tie the matrimonial knot or to untie it, he added.

[Last modified October 18, 2007, 01:29:08]