Enlarge imageBy Timothy Heritage
PARIS (Reuters) - France’s finance minister has decided to move out of a state-paid luxury apartment to try to end an embarrassing scandal over the huge cost at a time of government spending cuts being ordered by his own ministry.
Herve Gaymard responded to a furore over a newspaper report that he, his wife Clara and their eight children were living in a 600 square metre apartment in an upmarket neighbourhood of Paris at a cost to the state of 14,000 euros (9,679 pounds) a month.
Sensing a whiff of scandal, the opposition had demanded an explanation. Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin responded by issuing guidelines limiting the size of apartments ministers can use at state expense and gave them two months to comply.
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"I have acted completely within the law and I have done nothing wrong," Gaymard told France’s TF1 television in Brussels on Wednesday, where he was attending a European Union meeting.
"But because of the media fuss and my notion of serving the state and the republic, and also for the peace of mind of my family, I have decided to give up the apartment," he said.
The newspaper’s report was a fresh blow for the conservative government, which already faces labour unrest over unpopular economic reforms and fears voters could vent their spleen by rejecting the European Union constitution in a referendum.
It was an embarrassment for President Jacques Chirac who came to power vowing to crack down on perks enjoyed by public officials, saying the state must set an example.
Gaymard, 44, is not the first close Chirac ally to run into controversy over housing.
Former Prime Minister Alain Juppe was forced to abandon a fashionable five-bedroom duplex apartment in Paris in 1995 after it emerged that he and his son, who lived in an adjacent flat, were paying bargain-basement rents.
RED FACES IN THE GOVERNMENT
Announcing the new policy, the government said ministers would now be entitled to free housing, when needed, of no more than 80 square metres, plus 20 square metres for each dependent child. The rent must be at market rates, it said.
The furore began over a report in Wednesday’s edition of Le Canard Enchaine, an investigative and satirical weekly.
"Gaymard is not really housed economically," it said. "Nothing is too good for the minister and his large family."
The Finance Ministry denied any wrongdoing and said the government had approved the rent of the flat.
Official apartments are normal perks for French government ministers. The Finance Ministry building includes several flats but Gaymard would have had to take two unconnected apartments to house his large family.
It said two flats had been converted into a duplex apartment at a cost of 15,000 euros in January for the Gaymards.
The newspaper did not suggest any crime had been committed. But its story embarrassed the government because it coincides with efforts, led by Gaymard, to trim public spending and bring France’s budget deficit to below a level acceptable to the EU.
Gaymard has been finance minister for less than four months and his wife heads the French Agency for International Investment. He said earlier this week that France must "cleanse itself of (high) public spending".
