Nicolas Sarkozy 'asks Carla Bruni to maintain low public profile'

London, Nov 6 : Nicolas Sarkozy has asked wife Carla Bruni not to 'intervene' in matters of public policy after rumours of her influence on the French President were doing rounds, it has emerged.

Recently France's leading society magazine called the 41-year-old French First Lady as the new Marie-Antoinette.

And one in l'Express mag accused Bruni of being the reason for "most of the head of state's woes in this turbulent autumn".

Speaking about Sarkozy's flight to New York for the annual general assembly of the United Nations, another claimed in l'Express: "He remained with Carla for the entire flight. Two advisers were only allowed to interrupt him for a quarter of an hour."

Sarkozy has not only been marred by a series a political controversies ranging from nepotism to his support for detained filmmaker Roman Polanski - who languishes in a Swiss jail for having illegal sex with a minor - but has also met with firm disapproval with his Right-wing allies who are see Bruni's "luvvy" Left-wing influence on him as being dangerous.

"Nicolas is subjugated by a model wife who is richer than him and globally known and who constitutes a war trophy as she comes from the Left," a member of Sarkozy's UMP party said.

Even the French electorate doesn't think too highly of their Prez, whose approval ratings of 39 percent are at their lowest since his election two years ago.

However, Sarkozy is now trying hard to woo back his core conservative voters ahead of the regional elections in March next year. He has also launched a nationwide debate on "national identity" and has plans to tighten the grip on delinquents in a bid to gain popularity.

And he has asked Bruni to take a back seat.

"Her husband has asked her not to intervene on [political] subjects. And this doesn't bother her," the Telegraph quoted one of Bruni's friends, as telling the 20minutes.fr website.

Bruni, it seems, has obliged her husband as she was spotted in public only once last month and even missed Sarkozy's a state visit to Kazakhstan. Her website also has no public dates anymore.

Meanwhile, advertising mogul Jacques Séguéla - at whose dinner party Sarkozy and Bruni met - has rubbished speculation that the former supermodel is staying away from public eye because she is pregnant.

He said: "It's completely false...Nicolas and Carla are very much in love. They want a child. For the moment it isn't there. But perhaps it will be one day."