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Sarkozy to ministers: Take vacations in France

09 February 2011 20:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. To the delight of French media, President Nicolas Sarkozy is awkwardly trying to stamp out a controversy over his ministers taking sun-and-sea holidays paid for by autocrats, APA reports quoting â€œAssociated Pressâ€.
While that scenario would be unthinkable in many countries, in France some top figures have made a habit of planning vacations around the largesse of foreign governments or influential tycoons.
But the long-standing practice has come under scrutiny following revelations that the French prime minister took a family Christmas holiday funded by Egypt’s government, and the foreign minister vacationed in Tunisia, hitching a ride on a businessman’s jet to avoid violent anti-government protests there.
French media had a field day Wednesday, running front-page photos of Prime Minister Francois Fillon and Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie with headlines such as "Fillon Government Experiencing Heavy Turbulence."
Sarkozy told ministers at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday to "prioritize France" when picking holiday destinations. But in a political faux pas, Sarkozy said any invitations by foreign governments must be approved by the prime minister â€” the same man who vacationed on Egypt’s dime.
"It’s only by being irreproachable that highly placed decisionmakers will be able to shore up citizens’ confidence in the institutions of the state," Sarkozy said in a statement. "That which was common several years ago can be seen as shocking today."
Accepting junkets by foreign governments â€” a longtime political perk â€” took on tone-deaf overtones after the Le Canard Enchaine newspaper revealed that Alliot-Marie vacationed in Tunisia amid violent popular protests that toppled the North African nation’s autocratic leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Alliot-Marie acknowledged accepting a ride in a private plane owned by a Tunisian businessman during the 2010 year-end holiday, and was repeatedly questioned about how close he was to the fallen regime. She insisted the man was a personal friend who was victimized by the regime, not a supporter.
Still, critics used the ill-timed trip as evidence of Alliot-Marie’s cozy relations with Ben Ali and suggested that was why she was slow to speak out in support of anti-government protesters. Alliot-Marie also came under fire for offering French police know-how to Tunisian security forces while the number of demonstrators killed by Tunisian police mounted.
The opposition called on her to resign, but she has resisted.
Fillon stood by Alliot-Marie, but soon found himself in the same tight spot, as Le Canard Enchaine ran a cover story about his own holiday getaway to Egypt. Fillon acknowledged late Tuesday that the Egyptian government gave his family free lodging, a plane flight and Nile boat trip during their Dec. 26-Jan. 2 vacation in Egypt.
The trip came ahead of mass protests aimed at ousting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak â€” demonstrations that entered their 16th day Wednesday. Still, Fillon’s trip raised ethical red flags. 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 for by foreign governments.
In Scandinavia, Germany and Austria, private family vacations are the norm for most politicians. British, Spanish and Hungarian politicians have tended to take summer holidays at home in the past few years, partly in response to the financial crisis.
In contrast, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his flamboyant Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi often vacation together at Berlusconi’s villa in Sardinia or Putin’s official residence on the Black Sea.
Sarkozy came under fire after his election in 2007 for taking a post-campaign getaway on a yacht belonging to French magnate Vincent Bollore.
Questions have also arisen about Sarkozy’s own year-end holiday in Morocco and a recent weekend in New York. Asked who footed the bill for those trips, government spokesman Francois Baroin refused to provide any details about Sarkozy’s own holidays.