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Journalist fired over first lady ‘shag’ tweet

A radio journalist has been fired over an offensive tweet about the partner of president-elect François Hollande, Valérie Trierweiler.

Published: 10 May 2012 10:31 CEST

On Wednesday, the 65-year-old journalist Pierre Salviac tweeted “Dear female colleagues, choose your shags wisely and you might land a job as France’s first lady.”

Salviac, a rugby specialist, was referring to politics journalist Valérie Trierweiler, who as Hollande’s partner is about to become France’s de-facto first lady, according to news portal France Soir.

The tweet caused a slew of reactions on the web, with many tweeters accusing Salviac of sexism and chauvinism.

Salviac’s employer radio RTL slammed the tweet, saying his comments were “intolerable and totally unacceptable”. He was later dismissed, despite having publicly apologised for the comments.

This isn’t the first time Salviac has caused uproar on twitter. In January, he had tweeted abusive comments about homosexuals. “63 percent of the population is in favour of gay marriage. We already had enough bug. in the country, it’s not going to get better.”

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Here's the latest in France's presidential race

French centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron in Reunion. Photo: Eric Feferberg/AFP

Here are three things that happened in the campaign on Saturday:

Let them throw eggs

Conservative candidate Francois Fillon, under pressure over allegations of fake parliamentary jobs for the family which have hit his poll ratings, received a chaotic reception on a trip to the southern Basque region where some protesters pelted him with eggs.

Fillon, who has accused Hollande of helping foment a smear campaign against him amid claims his wife was on the public payroll but did little for her salary, ran the gauntlet in the small town of Cambo-les-Bains.

Locals demanding an amnesty for radical Basque nationalists banged pots and pans, hurled abuse and objects.

“The more they demonstrate the more the French will back me,” Fillon insisted before meeting with local officials.

Warning on Europe

President Francois Hollande warned would-be successors they should cleave closely to Europe as it was “impossible” that France could contemplate going its own way.

In a barb aimed at far-right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen, Hollande said: “So some want to quit Europe? Well let them show the French people they would be better off alone fighting terrorism without the indispensable European coordination…

“Let them show that without the single currency and (single) market there would be more jobs, activity and better purchasing power,” Hollande said in Rome where he attended the ceremonies marking the EU's 60th anniversary.

Le Pen, favoured in opiniion polls to reach the second-round run-off vote in May, wants France to dump the euro, but Hollande said that would lead to devaluation and loss of purchasing power as he warned against nationalist populism.

'Not Father Christmas'

French centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron, seen in polls as beating Marine Le Pen in the May 7 run-off, was in Reunion, a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean, where alongside discussing local issues, he told voters he was “not Father Christmas.”

“I don't have the solution to all problems and I am not Father Christmas,” the 39-year-old former economy minister and banker admitted, saying he had not come to make “promises.”

He indicated he would focus on education as a priority on an island where around one in five youths are illiterate.

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