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French minister back at work after childbirth

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-08 11:46

France's justice minister, Rachida Dati, returned to work Tuesday less than five days after giving birth to a baby girl by caesarean section, but still refuses to name the father.

France's justice minister, Rachida Dati, returned to work Tuesday less than five days after giving birth to a baby girl by caesarean section, but still refuses to name the father. [Agencies]

Miss Dati, recently told reporters that she had "a complicated private life," sparking a national guessing game over the identity of the father.

Speculation mounted that President Sarkozy's younger brother Francois was the father after he was seen leaving the hospital on Sunday but has since denied the child is his.

The French millionaire hotel and casino Baron Dominique Desseigne and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar have also both denied being the father.

Smiling and wearing a black suit and high heels, the 43-year-old minister arrived on foot with fellow cabinet members for the first council of ministers meeting of the year at the Elysée palace.

Hours earlier, she had checked out of the Paris maternity clinic where her first child, named Zohra, was born two weeks prematurely on Friday.

The glamorous Miss Dati was swarmed by photographers as she walked the short distance from the interior ministry to the presidential palace, flanked by two other female ministers.

Already the first person of North African origin to take a top ministerial post, Miss Dati has broken new ground with her whirlwind maternity leave.

Three French women ministers have had children in the job before, including Mr Sarkozy's defeated rival for the presidency Ségolène Royal, but none was back in the ministerial saddle so quickly.

Under French law, women can take six weeks off before their due date and a further 10 weeks after the birth of their child. However, Miss Dati let it be known less than 24 hours after delivery that she was "following her dossiers" from her bedside and fully intended to be back at the office within the week. "Giving birth is not a disease," she said shortly before going into labour.

Mystery still shrouds the identity of the child's father, who was not spotted visiting the clinic in the chic 16th arrondissement despite that fact that it was staked out by dozens of paparazzi.

The minister was reportedly concerned that a prolonged absence would increase her chances of being sidelined in a reshuffle. Since she burst onto the political stage in 2007 and was dubbed the new face of France, her star has waned after a series of gaffes and bitter stand-offs with magistrates and lawyers. However Le Figaro confirmed that she was one of a select few invited to Nicolas Sarkozy's New Year's soirée, suggesting she is still in favour with the president.

Miss Dati was also present Tuesday afternoon for Mr Sarkozy's speech to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest court, in which he announced a major judicial reform. The president wants to scrap the investigating magistrate -- a powerful judge created by Emperor Napoleon two centuries ago -- in order to bring French justice more in line with the Anglo-American system.

While the president insisted the new set-up would favour the presumption of innocence, the opposition and many magistrates complained that the new judges would have less political independence; political scandals could more easily be snuffed out, as the magistrates would answer to the justice ministry.