""The embarrassment was palpable for a government that has squeezed pensions, health benefits and public services to bring its budget deficit within European Union ""
PARIS - Economics minister Herve Gaymard, who keeps a rein on France's purse strings, acknowledged Thursday that he erred in allowing his aides to settle him and his family in a luxurious Paris apartment at taxpayer expense and said he was moving out.
The satirical dirt-digging Canard Enchaine weekly broke the story, with the headline: "Gaymard not really economic with his lodgings."
It recounted that the duplex apartment for the minister, his wife and eight children cost the state $18,250 a month — a figure he and other officials did not deny.
"I did not know the price. As soon as I found out I said to myself that I would not stay there," Gaymard said Thursday night on France-2 television.
The embarrassment was palpable for a government that has squeezed pensions, health benefits and public services to bring its budget deficit within European Union (news - web sites) limits and is grappling with nearly 10 percent unemployment.
With a reported 1,970 square feet of floor space and a prestigious address in Paris' swanky 8th district, the apartment is just minutes walk from the Champs-Elysees.
"I didn't personally handle this dossier, and I consider that an error," Gaymard told RTL radio from Brussels. "I without doubt should have been more vigilant."
He hadn't had time to find a more suitable place himself because he "works 120 hours a week," he said.
After Canard Enchaine's article appeared, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin announced new rules that ministers must pay for any extra space above 262 square feet, with an added 65.5 square feet for each child.
Raffarin gave his ministers two months to get their houses in order.
Three government members whose lodgings are bigger than the new limits said Thursday they would either pay for the extra space or move out.
Gaymard, who took his post in December, said the main reason he needed more space was to accommodate the formal receptions ministers are obliged to hold at their homes.
However, he said he would leave the luxury home because of the "emotion" the revelation had caused, his conception of "service to the state and the Republic" and the "serenity" of his family. |
