“Jean Sarkozy, the 23-year-old son of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, bowed to intense public pressure by giving up his ambition to run the state agency that oversees France’s biggest business district, La Défense,” Financial Times reads Oct. 23.

“[He] had been the leading candidate to head Epad, a quasi-governmental organization overseeing real estate and administration of La Defense, the neighborhood of skyscrapers west of Paris that is home to top companies such as Total. He withdrew that bid Thursday night after two weeks of cries of favoritism that were becoming a political risk to his father,” Associated Press informsю

“The move is a severe blow to President Sarkozy who has several times in recent weeks defied public opinion to defend his son’s bid to run an agency overseeing a district generating 10 per cent of French gross domestic product.

Jean Sarkozy, whose rhetoric and manner is remarkably similar to his father’s, also said on Thursday he had been the victim of a ‘campaign of manipulation’. He said his candidacy to run Epad had been 'completely legitimate',” Financial Times says.