PARIS - FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy could marry Italian singer and former model Carla Bruni early next month, a French newspaper reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.

In a report widely picked up on French radio and television, the weekly Journal du Dimanche said that Mr Sarkozy had already given Bruni a diamond engagement ring and received a watch from the exclusive Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe in exchange.

'They are getting married! February 9?' the newspaper headlined its front page over a photograph of Mr Sarkozy and Bruni, both in sunglasses, visiting the ancient site of Petra in Jordan at the weekend.

Mr Sarkozy's office declined to comment.

The report coincided with the release of an opinion poll in the daily Le Parisien, showing a seven point drop in Mr Sarkozy's approval ratings, mainly due to mounting concerns over the economy but in part as well because his private life.

Stephane Rozes, director general of the CSA polling institute which carried out the survey, told Le Parisien that older voters in particular appeared to have been turned off by coverage of Mr Sarkozy's private life.

'The heavy media exposure of the president's personal life, affecting the function of the president, clearly offends traditional sections of government supporters,' he said. 'The fall among older people, who we know are attached to traditional values, is significant from this point of view.'

The couple, who met at a party in November, just weeks after Mr Sarkozy divorced his second wife Cecilia, have dominated coverage in French media with magazines lavishing extensive colour spreads on their visits to Disneyland Paris and Egypt.

Following a visit to Egypt last month, during which Sarkozy was criticised for using a private jet belonging to one of France's most influential businessmen, they visited Jordan at the weekend, at the invitation of Jordan's King Abdullah. -- REUTERS