Le député Dosière et les dépenses des ministères

[h16]

Une fois n'est pas coutume, je tirerai mon chapeau à un député, PS de surcroît, qui a réussi a obtenir quelques chiffres sur les dépenses des ministères en utilisant les ficelles offertes par les questions à l'assemblée.

Résultat : on commence à savoir combien coûte un ministre.

http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/20…962_823448.html

http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/20…963_823448.html

On ne peut qu'encourager ce genre de démarches au point que chaque homme politique devrait se sentir systématiquement observé, scruté et pisté sur tous ses déplacements, dans tous ses achats, pour tous ses frais.

Au mieux, ça les fera renoncer à la politique, au pire, on aura moins de détournements.

[Lexington]

Un des rares bons députés. Il s'est fait remarquer par sa vigilance sur les budgets de l'Élysée bien avant. Sa vigilance ne lui a pas fait que des amis et il n'est pas à exclure qu'il se soit fait débarquer du PS aux législatives de 2007 entre autres pour cela..

[eclipse]

Why French politicians don't fiddle their expenses

by Charles Bremner

France is amused, along with everyone else, by the fuss over the fanciful expenses of British members of parliament. All those claims for castle repairs and tennis court maintenance are good for a laugh. No-one could imagine such a scandal occurring in France for a simple reason: members of the government and parliament don't have to account for their expenses. Unlike parliamentarians in northern Europe, French députés and senators do not have to hand in receipts or explain how they dispose of the fixed 70,000 euros that they receive annually to cover their their spending on housing, offices and transport. The European Parliament still uses largely the same method, to the disgust of the northerners and delight of Eurosceptics. Luxurious style and lavish perks are expected by French ministers and other high servants of the state and few see anything wrong with this.

[…]

The subject came up because, parallel to the British scandal, an unusual glimpse of French ministerial spending has emerged this week. It came from René Dosière, a leftwing parliamentarian who has for years been trying to pierce the secrecy that surrounds the state aristocracy. It was Dosière who, a few years ago, exposed the way that French Presidents enjoyed an unlimited, secret budget, drawn from a number of ministries. President Sarkozy reformed this up to a point. He still lives like a king -- though that is probably the wrong expression since some of Europe's royal houses live modestly in comparison. This time, Dosière used his parliamentary rights to force reluctant ministries to produce their running expenses. He got the figures after eight months but only one, the Justice Ministry, gave much detail. Among other things, we learn that Rachida Dati, the Minister, has put a fleet of 20 cars with 19 drivers at the permanent service of her 20 personal staff. Madame Dati [pictured above in her office] and her ministry on the Place Vendôme spent 270,000 euros last year on receptions and meals. She clocked up 416,370 euros on air travel for herself and advisers. Much or perhaps all of that was legitimate, but there's no way of knowing. Christine Albanel, the Culture Minister (see last post) beat Dati on the travel front, spending 562,346 euros on flights.

Dati, who is about to leave office, does not live in the official residence which is provided for her, unlike many other ministers. Scandals occasionally break when ministers go too far on that front. Hervé Gaymard, a Finance Minister under President Chirac, was forced to resign after only a few weeks in 2005 after it was revealed that the state was renting a palatial apartment for his family because he considered that his official residence was not grand enough. As a result of this, ministers are now expected to pay some of the running charges of their mansions. That is a change from the days when President Mitterrand managed to house his secret second family at state expense in a sumptuous apartment for over a decade and no-one raised an eye-brow when the news came out in the mid 90s.

Dosière, who is regarded by fellow parliamentarians as something of an eccentric, commented drily in Le Monde today: "The culture of monitoring public spending is not very developed in France, at least it's not much liked in the ministries…. Our administration is not yet used to transparency."

Source: http://timescorrespondents.typepad.com/cha…r-expenses.html

[Volkhen]

few see anything wrong with this

Pas vraiment en fait. Il suffit de discuter un peu avec les gens autour de soit de ce que les élus se permettent pour voir que si tranparence ou au moins médiatisation il y avait, beaucoup devraient revoir leurs privilèges à la baisse.