Embattled French minister "clean as new penny"

24/02/2005 14:35

By Tom Heneghan

PARIS (Reuters) - Declaring himself "clean as a new penny," French Finance Minister Herve Gaymard has fought off calls for his resignation as new details about his state-paid luxury apartment emerged to boost pressure on him.

Gaymard told the daily Le Figaro in a feisty counter-attack that he would not let himself be "pinned down like a butterfly while ... we’re working like crazy for the republic."

He claimed full support from President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin in the crisis, which broke out last week when it emerged that he was living in a huge apartment in the chic heart of Paris at state expense.

Critics were hardly convinced and editorial writers stressed the issue was undermining the government as it prepared for a difficult referendum on the European constitution.

Gaymard "shot himself in the foot," wrote the business daily Les Echos on Thursday. "It would be best if he quit," the left-wing Liberation said. "The finance minister has no credibility anymore," LCI television declared.

La Tribune, another business daily, noted that Raffarin’s support for Gaymard "was not the most fervent" and added: "The question of his staying on at the ministry is clearly open."

Even though official flats are a normal perk in France and he and his wife have eight children, the 600-square-metre (6,500-square-foot) .....continued below

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duplex seemed far too much for a minister tasked with convincing the French their state should spend less.

CLUMSY DEFENSE HURTS GAYMARD

The latest embarrassment came on Thursday when the daily Le Parisien reported the Gaymards, after converting two apartments into a duplex at extra cost to the state, had arranged to have the extra kitchen converted into a home fitness room.

The flat’s real cost was far higher than the 14,000 euro (9,741 pound) monthly rent, it said, listing charges for remodelling (31,800 euros), three parking places (15,000 euros), the gym (10,000 euros) and estate agent fees (12,100 euros).

Gaymard, 44, has promised to move out of the apartment and pay all costs for remodelling the flat and breaking its lease.

His clumsy attempts to defend himself have wrapped him in further contradictions, especially concerning a large flat he owns in central Paris and rents out to a friend and his family.

He first said the friend stayed there for free, according to the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine that broke the news, and then admitted to earning a hefty rent from him.

Commentators hooted when, in the weekly Paris-Match, Gaymard complained that the scandal would never have occurred if he had been the rich son of the bourgeoisie with his own flat rather than the son of a poor shoemaker from the French Alps.

"Gaymard caught in a lie," France-Info radio announced.

The scandal is embarrassing for a government trying to cut state spending to bring the public deficit under a European Union ceiling and preparing for a controversial referendum in mid-year on the European constitution.

It is also embarrassing for Chirac, who came to power vowing to crack down on perks for public officials, and Raffarin, a provincial politician who likes to talk about his close contacts with "grass-roots France."

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