“I am very happy for my daughter, it makes me very happy to see her so radiant and in love,” Marisa Tedeschi Bruni was quoted as saying by the Italian daily. La Stampa said it had confirmed with other sources that Sarkozy had proposed to the 39-year-old former fashion model who is now a pop singer in France.

Another unnamed friend quoted Bruni as saying: “It is all true, we have been together for one month,” La Stampa said in its double-page report on the relationship.

Sarkozy (52) has been called Europe’s most eligible bachelor by French showbiz journalists since his divorce from his second wife Cécilia two months ago. He is the first president to divorce in office, and a wealth of speculation has been published about his potential new love interests.

This resulted in a court case this week after the TV presenter Laurence Ferrari sued for invasion of privacy and denied a relationship when her name was linked to the president's.

Bruni had been spotted in late November at the presidential Elysée palace and later walking in the grounds of the Chateau of Versailles with her mother and Sarkozy.

But it was not until the Disneyland outing that French newspapers announced the relationship. Sarkozy was said to have met Bruni when she attended an Elysée presentation about internet piracy and also at a dinner party at the home of a publicist friend.

Bruni fits neatly into the rightwing president’s philosophy of “opening up” and winning over those with other political colours. The singer has described herself as on the left and attended a pre-election concert to support the socialist presidential candidate Ségolène Royal. She also attended a recent protest concert against Sarkozy’s plans for a controversial new immigration law which introduces DNA testing to verify family links.

For the leftwing daily Liberation, Bruni would be a more “Left Bank” and glamourous companion than the ageing commercial crooners Sarkozy is friends with.