BRUSSELS - A woman chosen to appear behind President Nicolas Sarkozy when he made an appearance at a French factory has told Belgian television that her petite stature was the deciding factor.

But a spokesman for the diminutive president described as "grotesque" the report shown on Belgian channel RTBF which said that no one must appear bigger than Sarkozy when he appears in public.

Sarkozy went to the Faurecia auto parts company in the Normandy town of Caligny on September 3.

The RTBF report, shown Saturday night, interviewed a woman among the workers on the podium where the French president was to give a speech.

"I am told you have been chosen because of your size, is this true?" the journalist asks the woman. "Yes," she replies. "You must not be bigger than the president," the journalist goes on. "That's right," adds the woman.

The report has been widely shown by French internet news sites but a spokesman for the French presidency called it "completely absurd and grotesque."