AFP/Paris
France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy has described his “profound but private joy” at the birth of his daughter after visiting his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and the newborn.The baby girl was born late on Wednesday, and the president – who missed the birth to attend talks in Germany on the eurozone crisis – dropped in before midnight and then again for 50 minutes yesterday morning.He returned to the clinic just after 5pm following a day campaigning.“We have been lucky enough to find great happiness. All the parents here understand our very profound joy, a joy all the deeper because it is private,” Sarkozy said during his factory visit in the western Mayenne region.The first couple had decided not to officially announce the birth, but the president reacted warmly when waste-processing plant workers gave him gifts.“Oh, that’s really kind, very thoughtful,” he smiled, telling workers who asked after his wife and child: “They’re doing really well.”Asked what the child would be called, Sarkozy said: “We’re going to let Mum have the pleasure of revealing that.”Sarkozy continues to have a full political schedule, battling to rescue the economy and his own hopes of re-election. With seven months to go, yesterday’s latest BVA opinion poll predicted his political career will be buried in a Socialist landslide, with opponent Francois Hollande beating him by 64% to 36% in a second-round run-off.Asked whether the birth would influence the election, with perhaps a “baby bump” in Sarkozy’s polling numbers, Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said: “In any event, it will have an impact on Nicolas Sarkozy. He’s very happy.”“A president comfortable in his skin, clear in his head and in his life, is a gift for the country,” he added, speaking to the i-Tele news network.Bruni, a 43-year-old Italian-born heiress turned supermodel turned singer, was famous even before she married Sarkozy in early 2008 after a whirlwind romance, and the birth made headlines around the world.But in France itself, where the public is accustomed to politicians’ private lives staying private, the event was accorded a muted reception, with some newspapers barely covering it.