Rachida Dati : Sarkozy's former 'girlfriend' Justice Minister Rachida Dati reveals she is pregnant??

Rachida Dati is the first woman from a non-European immigrant background, to occupy a key ministerial position in the French Cabinet.

She was elected mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris on 29 March 2008.

Rachida Dati : Sarkozy's former 'girlfriend' Justice Minister Rachida Dati reveals she is pregnant??

A senior French minister linked romantically with President Nicolas Sarkozy during his bachelor days today confirmed she was pregnant through an unnamed lover.

Rachida Dati, 42, admitted she led a "complicated private life" and that "I want to be careful because I'm still at a risky stage."

It was only at the end of last year, following Mr Sarkozy's divorce from his second wife, that the Justice Minister was said to have been a girlfriend.

At a New Year's Eve party Carla Bruni - also competing for the president's affections at the time - is said to have pointed at a double bed in the Elysée Palace and - turning to Miss Dati - said: "You’d have loved to occupy it, wouldn't you?"

The scene is recounted in the highly authoritative book "Carla and Nicolas - The True Story", which charts the couple's 80-day romance which culminated in marriage in February.

Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, whose past lovers include Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, resented Miss Dati's friendship with the president, the book claims.

The book says the women "who were just getting to know each other, were also learning how to detest each other". Miss Bruni finally married the President in February.
Miss Dati, who has never been married and is famous for her sexy choice of designer clothes, has been championed by Mr Sarkozy for many years, with constant rumours that they were having an affair before he met the then Miss Bruni.

Opponents have attacked her for being too frivolous for a senior office of state - giving her the cruel nickname “Rachida Barbie”, as in Barbie Doll.

Miss Dati is a close friend of Mr Sarkozy's ex-wife, Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz, who called her "my little sister" - making the new Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy dislike her even more.

Miss Dati confirmed rumours to reporters in Paris, adding: "I will say nothing more for the moment about the father."

Today media reports named former Spanish premier Jose Aznar as the father - a charge he vehemently denied, threatening legal action.

The minister's swelling figure, photographed outside a cabinet meeting last month as the government returned from its summer break, fuelled a storm of media rumours about her pregnancy.

Miss Dati said it was "fundamental" for her to have a child, adding: "I will be happy and feel as if I have completed the circle. If not I will be deeply sad, but I will put a coat of lipstick on it, and carry the burden on my own."

As the only woman from an ethnic minority - and the only French Arab - to reach the cabinet, Miss Dati often says she feels she is perfectly entitled to enjoy herself.

Questioned by Paris Match about her love for Prada, Chanel and Dior earlier this year she said:

“Ever since I was little I had a taste for being well dressed. It’s a question of showing respect towards others.”

The latest controversy is likely to be like water off a duck’s back for the tough Miss Dati, one of twelve children of a Moroccan bricklayer and an illiterate Algerian housewife.

She suffered far worse abuse last month when her younger brothers Omar Dati and Jamal Dati were given prison sentences for drug dealing.

Both had previous convictions for trafficking illegal substances including heroin and cannabis.

The fact that a Justice Minister’s family were doing time in the prisons she was responsible for running did not create positive headlines.

Miss Dait, who left school at 16 but studied at night to gain degrees in economic and law before become a magistrate, rejected the notion that she should be a role model. She said: “My life is not a beautiful story."

In 1997, she was admitted to the École nationale de la magistrature, a public educational institution which offers courses necessary to become a magistrate. Upon leaving in 1999, she became a legal auditor at the Bobigny tribunal de grande instance (high court).

She went on to become judge for collective procedures^[3] at the tribunal de grande instance in Péronne and eventually an assistant to the attorney general of the Évry tribunal.

In 2002, she became Nicolas Sarkozy's advisor, working for him on an anti-delinquancy project). In 2006, she joined the UMP party. On January 14 2007, she was named spokeswoman for Sarkozy on the day he was chosen as UMP candidate for the presidential elections of April 2007 .

After Nicolas Sarkozy's victory on May 6 2007, she was appointed Minister of Justice. Her first changes were received coldly by professionals,with public demonstrations.

Dati has been criticized by the satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné for her methods (perceived as rushed and uninsightful) and her demeanour (seen as excessively authoritarian), and for her alleged tendency to show off in costly clothes, mostly Christian Dior.

Rachida Dati : Sarkozy's former 'girlfriend' Justice Minister Rachida Dati reveals she is pregnant??