Minister pregnant – but she's not telling who the father is

THE French justice minister, Rachida Dati, one of the stars of President Nicolas Sarkozy's cabinet, announced yesterday that she was pregnant but declined to name the father.

The divorced daughter of north African Muslim immigrants, Ms Dati, 42, has become the public face of Mr Sarkozy's drive to add some much-needed diversity to French politics.

Since taking office last year, she has appeared almost as often in the glossy magazines as in the serious political press, prompting criticism from some quarters that she is seeking celebrity status rather than concentrating on her job.

Yesterday, she confirmed rumours that she was pregnant, after the weekly magazine VSD reported on its front page that she was expecting a child.

Being a single mother carries no social stigma in modern France and a census released earlier this year showed that, in 2006, for the first time, more children were born out of wedlock than to married couples.

"I want to remain prudent because it isn't yet safe. I'm still in the danger zone," the website of Le Monde daily quoted Ms Dati as saying, referring to the risk of a possible miscarriage.

"I am 42 years old and have always said having a child was fundamental for me," she said. "If it goes ahead, I will be happy and have the feeling I've looped the loop."

Ms Dati is photographed alone when she goes out for evening parties.

"My private life is complicated and I'm keeping it off-limits to the press. I won't say anything about it," she told reporters when asked about the father's identity.

Ms Dati has raised eyebrows since becoming justice minister, appearing in designer evening wear at official events and posing for the front cover of Paris Match magazine.

She regularly travels with Mr Sarkozy on his trips abroad and is known to have been very close to his former wife, Cecilia.

As minister she has overseen a contested reform of France's judicial set up, closing several courthouses and drawing the wrath of the legal profession. Eleven of her close advisers have quit, complaining of her authoritarian ways.

Earlier this year, she found herself the subject of much political scrutiny after becoming involved in the case of a French Muslim man who had succeeded in having his marriage annulled after discovering his wife was not a virgin.

Although the woman agreed to the annulment, the case caused consternation in a France worried about the spread of Islam.

At the time, Ms Dati, whose own first marriage was annulled, first came down on the side of the couple, but after a weekend of heated media debate in the staunchly secular nation, she made a U-turn and ordered an appeal.

Under French law, a marriage can be annulled if there has been "an error about the person or the essential qualities of the person".

It does not state what those essential qualities are.

Ms Dati said she planned to stay at her desk throughout the pregnancy. "It isn't an illness," she said.

Several French ministers have had children while in office, including Ségolène Royal, the socialist who was beaten by Mr Sarkozy in last year's presidential election.