Carla Bruni 'glad to be French'
2008-11-09 14:15
Paris - French first lady Carla
Bruni-Sarkozy says she is glad not to be Italian any more after
hearing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi joke about US
President-elect Barack Obama's "suntan".
Italian-born Bruni-Sarkozy, a top model turned pop singer
who wed French President Nicolas Sarkozy in February after a
whirlwind romance, became a French national and lost her Italian
citizenship after her marriage.
In an interview with French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche
published on Sunday, she criticised Berlusconi for saying on
Thursday that Obama, who will be the first black US president,
was "handsome, young and also suntanned".
"When I hear Silvio Berlusconi making light of the event
(Obama's election) and joking about the fact that Obama is
'always tanned', it feels strange to me," Bruni-Sarkozy was
quoted as saying.
"Some people will no doubt put it down to humour, but often
I find that I am pleased to have become French," she said.
Italy's left-wing opposition parties accused Berlusconi of
bringing discredit on the nation with the quip. He responded by
calling them "imbeciles" with no sense of humour.