Jean-Paul Delevoye, the French minister and High Commissioner leading the country's pension reform, resigned on Monday from a side role as administrator of an insurance group amid talk of a conflict of interest, APA reports citing Euronews.
Le Parisien newspaper revealed on Sunday that Delevoye worked as voluntary administrator of the Ifpass training institute in the insurance sector, a role the minister did not disclose on his mandatory 'declaration of interest', published on Saturday.
Critics said that despite Delevoye's role being voluntary, the fact that he had close links to the insurance sector matters as the sector is expected to benefit from the reform, which some say will incite the French to use private insurance to compensate losses from their pensions.
Delevoye said not disclosing his role was "a mistake" and an "omission by oversight". He added that "he hadn't thought about it for a second" and admitted it "isn't sensible".
"To end all controversy, I have resigned this morning from my role as administrator of Ifpass with immediate effect", Delevoye said on Monday in a statement. He said he had attended "only three board meetings" since he was tasked with reforming the French pensions system in 2017, the last time "in December 2018".
He was "named administrator of Ifpass (...) by the board of IGS, a non-profit federation of independent associations", his statement added.