FRENCH GOVERNMENT ministers have for months been under strict orders to avoid using the term rigueur, or economic austerity, in public. But now the belt-tightening has reached the rarefied halls of Parisian power, and ministers' hunting privileges, Cuban cigars, private planes and luxury hotels will be first for the chop.
Eager to mollify voters by taking symbolic steps to cut back on government largesse after a series of recent scandals over perks, President Nicolas Sarkozy has told his cabinet there is a “moral imperative” to set a better example.
In a letter to prime minister François Fillon, Mr Sarkozy outlined measures including the cancellation of this year’s Bastille Day garden party, the abandoning of the presidential hunt and stricter rules governing the use of state accommodation.
Ministers will be required to limit staff numbers in their private offices to 20. The government will get rid of two private jets and 10,000 cars, while 7,000 official lodgings available to politicians and civil servants will be done away with.
While on official business, each minister should take the train where possible, limit the size of his entourage and stay in state accommodation such as an embassy or prefect’s residence.
“A euro spent by the public sector must be a useful and legitimate euro,” Mr Sarkozy said. This was “a duty to taxpayers”.