PARIS: From elevator shoes to step-up boxes behind podiums, and even his own tippy-toes, Nicolas Sarkozy and his handlers have tried to compensate for his height, or lack thereof.
Now, a factory worker's claim that she was chosen to stand near the French president during a photo shoot because she is short is making waves on the Internet, and rankling Sarkozy's office.
About 20 employees in white work smocks were gathered to stand behind Sarkozy on a riser as he spoke to about 600 workers at the new Faurecia automotive parts production site in Caligny.
"I've been told you were chosen on height criteria," a reporter for the Belgian TV network RTBF asked a dark-haired woman in the lineup. "Is that true?"
"Yes, yes," she said.
The reporter, Jean-Philippe Shaller, pressed on: "That you shouldn't be taller than the president?"
"That's right," she replied, then nervously looked away as other white-suited employees looked on.
Two presidential spokesmen denied the allegation, terming it "absurd and grotesque" and saying no such order had come from Sarkozy's office.
In a statement Monday, Faurecia said it alone had organized the appearance involving employees from four factory sites in the area, and denied the president's office made any specific requests.
Two labor union leaders were quoted in the left-leaning newspaper Liberation on Tuesday as saying a hand-picked group of short workers had been requested.
Neither Noel Djezairi of the Communist-backed CGT union nor Jose de Sa Moreira of the center-left CFDT could be reached for comment, though labor unions have had tense relations with the conservative Sarkozy on many issues recently.
Sarkozy regularly appears with crowds in the background, at times with people taller than he is. A spokesman said he didn't know the president's exact height, but said it is around 5 feet 7 inches (170 centimeters).