It is of interest to the serious papers here because it has never been the French way to concern themselves with such matters. That there has been any fuss at all is interesting because a) it originated in the one, newish, French magazine that does concern itself with tittle tattle, gossip, and delving into the personal life of celebrities. The question is therefore whether this new style of journalism for France shows that the people are becoming like the Anglo-Saxons.
b) if not (a) then why is this particular President being singled out ? Previous Presidents have had mistresses; Mitterrand fathered a daughter with one; but the press never bothered with saying anything and the people were not interested anyway. Well, Hollande is deeply unpopular. He is seen as a bearer of false promises, of policies which are disliked, and as rather duplicitous. His minor misuse of state employees and property is irrelevant; previous Presidents did far worse with both; but his behaviour in this, otherwise immaterial, affair tends to support that belief that he is shifty. And the magazine is now claiming that the flat which he used had a woman with connections to the Corsican mafia as the tenant; this doesn't help!