Sarkozy warns ministers over free holidays
French president Nicolas Sarkozy has urged government ministers to holiday in France after his own prime minister was criticised for taking a family holiday paid for by Egypt’s government.
Mr Sarkozy said ministers seeking to take holidays paid by foreign governments will now need approval – from the prime minister.
He spoke after Prime Minister Francois Fillon admitted the Egyptian government offered his family a Christmas holiday. The trip came weeks before the outbreak of the anti-government protests in Egypt.
Another French minister, Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, has admitted going on holiday in Tunisia during popular protests there in December that toppled the country’s long-standing dictator.
French media ran front-page photos of Mr Fillon and Ms Alliot-Marie with headlines such as ``Fillon Government Experiencing Heavy Turbulence''.
Mr Sarkozy said: “It’s only by being irreproachable that highly placed decision makers will be able to shore up citizens’ confidence in the institutions of the state.
“That which was common several years ago can be seen as shocking today.”
Long accepted as among the perks of being in political power, the practice of accepting junkets by foreign governments took on sinister overtones after the weekly newspaper Le Canard Enchaine revealed that Ms Alliot-Marie holidayed in Tunisia amid the wave of violent popular protests that toppled leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
She admitted accepting a ride in a private plane owned by a Tunisian businessman during the 2010 year-end holiday, and she was repeatedly questioned about how close he was to the fallen regime.
She insisted the man is a personal friend and a victim of the regime, not a supporter.
But critics pointed to the ill-timed trip as evidence of her cozy relations with Ben Ali and suggested that was why she was slow to speak out in support of anti-government protesters.
Ms Alliot-Marie also came under fire during the protests for offering French police aid to Tunisian security forces, while the death toll of demonstrators killed by Tunisian police mounted.
The opposition called on her to resign, but she has resisted.
Mr Fillon stood by her, but soon found himself in the same tight spot, as this week’s Le Canard Enchaine magazine ran a cover story about his own holiday getaway to Egypt.
He admitted last night that the Egyptian government provided his family free lodging, a plane flight and an outing on the Nile during the December 26-January 2 trip in Egypt.
It came well ahead of the mass protests but still raised ethical questions. France was among European governments calling last week for a quick democratic transition in Egypt in response to the protests.
Elsewhere in Europe, it would be almost inconceivable for politicians to accept junkets paid by foreign governments.
Throughout Scandinavia and in Germany and Austria, private family holiday are the norm for most politicians. British, Spanish and Hungarian politicians have also tended to take their summer holidays at home over the past few years, partly in response to the financial crisis.
The exceptions to the low-profile rule are Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin and his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi, who often stay together at Mr Berlusconi’s villa in Sardinia or Mr Putin’s official residence on the Black Sea.
Mr Sarkozy was criticised shortly after his election in 2007 for taking a post-campaign getaway on a yacht belonging to French magnate Vincent Bollore.
