Paris---His ratings are still in the doldrums and the economy is still stagnant, yet French President Francois Hollande looks ever more determined to run for re-election two years from now.
An appearance by Hollande's supposed lover, actress Julie Gayet, at an official function last week set tongues wagging that she was being gradually introduced as France's new first lady ahead of the 2017 presidential election.
Gayet's appearance at a wartime memorial ceremony was pure coincidence, Hollande's team said, but society gossip-monger Paris Match claims she is being introduced "little by little" into the presidential limelight.
Hollande has refused to be drawn on the nature of their relationship, which was dramatically revealed last year by a tabloid magazine.
The report destroyed his relationship with journalist Valerie Trierweiler, who later published a damaging kiss-and-tell book about her time in the Elysee Palace.
Nor will Hollande officially admit to being in campaign mode, saying: "I am not in a race which would not yet make any sense."
His schedule suggests otherwise, with the 60-year-old spending a busy few weeks criss-crossing the country and pressing the flesh.
"A handshake, a selfie, a kiss -- that's three votes," said an advisor at one recent appearance.
Hollande also looks to be buttering up voters with policy promises.
Having campaigned strongly on an anti-banking, anti-austerity message in 2012, he confused many supporters by instantly reversing course once in office, raising taxes on the middle classes and reining in public deficits.
He is now trying to spin those efforts as the first step towards reducing taxes in the future.
"The French have perfectly well understood that today's deficits can be tomorrow's taxes," he told a local paper last week.
Hollande is hoping that meagre signs of growth in the economy -- predicted at 1.0 to 1.2 percent this year -- will afford him a few new sops to pensioners and state employees, as well as a drop in taxes for "nine million households".
"We get the impression the president is playing Father Christmas," scoffed Laurent Wauquiez, from the right-wing opposition.
AFP
