Oh So Cute: Valérie is François’ “First Girlfriend”

French President François Hollande is in the United States to participate in the G-8 and NATO summits. That is a lot of pressure. The whole world is watching the man who is now starting to play in the major league. Syrian conflict, Iranian nuclear program, strategic petroleum reserve, Greek crisis… in short, our planet’s future. So, of course, Americans have lots of questions: What does the new French president think about these issues? What are his ideas or his suggestions? Does he have solutions?

However, the main question everyone is asking across the Atlantic — above all others — is: Why is Hollande not married? And what should we call his, his, his… female companion? CNN made their decision: Valérie Trierweiler is Hollande’s “first girlfriend.”

In the United States, the role of the first lady is institutionalized and predefined. This is not the case in France. Trierweiler highlighted this issue on the French news program, Le Grand Journal de Canal+. She even said that she had “looked for a first lady school, but to no avail.”

The White House quickly silenced the controversy concerning Trierweiler’s status. One of Obama’s spokeswomen declared that “there is no established rule for how questions like these are addressed,” before adding that “Ms. Trierweiler has been invited to participate in all spousal programs.” Here is Trierweiler’s schedule in the United States: Private lunch, visit to a youth care center in a disadvantaged neighborhood of Chicago, dance show…

Americans should feel lucky. If Ségolène Royal had been elected president in the 2007 French elections, how would they have treated Hollande? Would he have been invited for tea with the spouses of George W. Bush and Tony Blair?

Protocol Issue?

The protocol regarding the president’s companion could become a controversial issue in very religious countries that are attached to principles, such as Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and India, not to mention the Vatican. However, there is no certainty that this issue will become a diplomatic dilemma in these countries.

At the beginning of his five-year term, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy had made a trip to India alone, without Carla Bruni, whom he had not yet married. At that time, their relationship was quite new. Once Sarkozy remarried, he went to India again, this time with Bruni, in particular to visit “the monument of love,” the Taj Mahal. “Typically we only give protocol facilities to a spouse,” said Syed Akbaruddin, the spokesman for the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also added that he did not know Hollande’s situation “in detail.”

In Indonesia, a Muslim country, cohabitation outside marriage is overall not well regarded. According to the Indonesian Council of the Ulemas, the highest Islamic religious body in that country, a sexual relationship outside marriage is haram (“forbidden”). However, the Indonesian people, who typically practice Islam moderately, do not expect foreigners of other religious faiths to adhere to these principles.

On the other hand, in some monarchies in the Persian Gulf region, where cohabitation outside marriage is strictly forbidden, protocol considerations could be constraining for Hollande, if he chooses to bring his companion on his presidential trips.