French Ministers Disclose Private Assets Amid Political Scandal

[Time]

The French have always had a difficult relationship with money — a love/hate affair that has left France's rich and powerful as detested as they are envied by the rest of society. That tension came to the fore once more following the April 15 disclosure by French ministers of their personal wealth. That new obligation was denounced by critics as voyeuristic invasion in the private affairs of public officials, while backers praised it for shedding a little light on France's opaque political class. The French public viewed it as both — and gobbled up details of their leaders' holdings, even as a majority of people admitted their vote wouldn't switch if preferred candidates turn out to be well-off. Monday's publication of personal holdings by all 38 Cabinet members sparked as much excitement in France as it did head-scratching in countries where some form of financial disclosure by government officials is routine. The move was imposed by French President François Hollande in response to tanking public confidence in the political class after his former Budget Minister, Jérôme Cahuzac, admitted he repeatedly lied in denying he'd maintained a secret bank account in Switzerland. Public reaction to the resulting scandal sent Hollande's approval rating down to 26%. (MORE: Swiss Account of Ex-Minister Further Darkens Hollande's Political Fortunes) "The End of a Taboo," trumpeted the April 16 headline of the left-leaning daily Libération. In airing conservative hostility to the measure as a cheap distraction from the Cahuzac scandal, by contrast, right-wing paper Le Figaro dismissed the wealth disclosures as "The Striptease of the Republic." The less partisan newspaper Le Parisien opted for a more factually accurate (albeit wordier and less sensational) option, with its front-page reaction: "38 Ministers, 37 Houses, 29 Apartments, 40 Cars, 2 Boats and Three Bikes ..." Indeed, the main takeaway from this parade of financial declarations — which are considered routine in Scandinavian countries and the U.S. — is if French pols are abusing their positions to fill their pockets, they're doing a pretty cruddy job of it. Monday's filings show

Via: TIME GlobalSpin