Opposition to asset declaration grows among French MPs as Cahuzac tax scandal rumbles

Many French MPs are outraged that they would be forced to declare their assets publicly, under proposals announced by President Hollande yesterday, amid the crisis which erupted when Jérôme Cahuzac was charged with tax fraud last week, two weeks after resigning as budget minister.

Richard Ying and Tangui Morlier/Wikimedia Commons

On Monday the French Prime Minister announced that all 37 cabinet ministers have until Monday to make public declarations of their wealth.

Under proposals to be discussed in parliament on 24 April, every single Member of Parliament would soon be obliged to to the same.

But there is considerable resistance to the idea from MPs across the political spectrum.

Claude Bartolone, President of the Assemblée Nationale, and a Socialist, is said to be annoyed that he was not consulted before the proposal was announced.

He has pointed out that anyone wishing to conceal the true extent of their wealth could easily do so, and that Jérômé Cahuzac’s secret account would almost certainly have remained hidden.

Bartolone also insisted that, in the rush to combat corruption, it was important not to besmirch the general reputation of MPs “I would not like the impression to be given….that all members of parliament are in principle condemnable,” he said.

(Contested) leader of Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party has denounced what he called "this voyeuristic and hypocritical gimmick". He maintains he will declare his assets if the law is passed but will not reveal them otherwise. He cast doubt on Hollande's motives in introducing the measures, suggesting the measures were intended to distract from the specific case within his own government.   

Former Sarkozy minister Luc Chatel agreed “Why are we in this situation?” he asked. “Quite simply because François Hollande chose as minister with responsibility for tax, someone [Jérôme Cahuzac] who did not pay his taxes,”

Front National leader Marine Le Pen on Thursday ridiculed the handful of MPs from various parties who have pre empted the proposed new rules and already published details of their wealth.

“It’s a competition to be the poorest. As if it was a concise measure of morality, to say, for example like the former prime minister, [François Fillon] ‘Oh, I have nothing, about 35 cents in my account, I have a little house near the Loire”.

“It means that they are really not very competent, because after a whole career, and a Prime Minister’s salary, they still can’t accumulate any wealth, that suggests that they are rather bad at managing their own lives, and so perhaps would be rather bad running France,” she added, mockingly on RTL radio on Thursday.