London, October 10 : President Nicolas Sarkozy had an affair with the wife on one of his present Cabinet members, claims the former head of French police intelligence.

The reported account is said to have taken place four years ago and is amongst the multitude of unsettling revelations about the French political elite.

Paris - Fre

Paris- French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, on Wednesday called for a new pan-European security structure.

At an international conference in the south-eastern French resort of Evian, Sarkozy called for a total reconstruction of the European security structure.

Paris  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday congratulated Luc Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, who were awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine for their discovery of the retrovirus that causes AIDS.

After extending his "heartiest congratulations," in his own name and that of the nation, Sarkozy noted, in a statement released by his office, that it was the first Nobel Prize for Medicine awarded to a French team since 1980.

"The discovery of the AIDS virus at the beginning of the 1980s marked the start of a period of intense research that led to the creation of anti-retrovirus treatments," Sarkozy said. "Today millions of people around the world are benefiting from these treatments."

Paris - A top advisor to French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday that the financial crisis has "temporarily" rendered the Maastricht criteria on public deficits not a top priority.

"Temporarily, (the criteria) are not the priorities of priorities. The priority is to save the world banking system and therefore save citizens' savings," Henry Guaino told Canal Plus television.

Paris  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the current president of the European Union, and Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen held talks on Wednesday in Paris on the future of the Lisbon Treaty, Sarkozy's office said.

According to a statement issued by the Elysee Palace, Cowen told Sarkozy that, at the October 15 EU summit, he would present the results of a study on the reasons for the rejection of the treaty in the June 12 referendum, which resulted in an institutional crisis for the EU and a freeze on taking in new members.

All 27 EU members must ratify the treaty for it to become law.