Sarkozy’s Minister Denies Gay Marriage to Be Added to Platform

Valerie Pecresse, the French government spokeswoman, denied a report in Liberation newspaper today that said Nicolas Sarkozy may include gay marriage in his re-election platform.

Pecresse, a minister in the president’s Union for a Popular Movement party, said in a posting on her official Twitter account that Sarkozy “didn’t change his mind, he is not favorable to gay marriage.”

Liberation reported that Sarkozy, who is likely to announce his intention to run for a second term in the coming weeks, may include a marriage or a “civil union” equivalent to a full- fledged marriage in his platform. The most conservative groups within his party oppose this, the daily said.

Francois Hollande, the Socialist Party candidate and front- runner before the two-round election in April and May, supports homosexual marriage and will add it to his platform, Manuel Valls, head of communication for the Socialist campaign, said on RMC radio today.

In the 2007 race for president, Sarkozy opposed homosexual marriage and the right of gays to adopt. He pledged to adopt a “civil union,” a measure he has not implemented since.

To contact the reporter on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net