Sunday Times 2
Political storm in France over lobster-dinner scandal
View(s):PARIS, July13 (AFP) – A senior French cabinet minister defiantly vowed Friday to stay in his job despite fresh claims he used the public purse to fund an extravagant lifestyle including lobster feasts.
Environment Minister Francois de Rugy has endured a torrid week after the Mediapart investigative website said he hosted lavish dinners — allegedly for friends — while serving as parliament speaker.
Then president of the French National Assembly Francois de Rugy (L) and his wife French journalist Severine Servat
Piling on the pressure, Mediapart published a new report saying that Rugy rented a council flat with subsidised rent in western France, even though his salary was “far higher” than the maximum allowed for such aid.
But Rugy, who also holds the portfolio of minister of state which makes him the government number two after Prime Minister Edouard Philippe — insisted he was not shifting.
“Of course, you feel like giving up” when “you’re attacked morning, noon and night,” he said, close to tears in an interview on French TV channel BFM.
But he added: “I won’t do that because I’m very angry when I read an article which claims I live in a council house.” Mediapart said that the dinners hosted by Rugy included luxuries like lobster, champagne and vintage wines from parliament’s cellar.
Most damagingly, it alleged that the dinners had little connection to his function and were essentially social gatherings hosted by his wife, a journalist with the people magazine Gala, and funded by the taxpayer.
On a visit Thursday to the central town of Deux-Sevres, the minister was met by a giant inflatable lobster and protesters brandishing slogans like “were the lobsters organic?” Rugy has not denied the existence of the dinners but insisted they were linked to his work, defending the gatherings as “informal working dinners”.
He told BFM he has “never paid more than 30 euros for a bottle of wine”, doesn’t eat lobster because of a “shellfish allergy”, and avoids champagne, which “gives him a headache”.
In another blow, French daily Le Parisien reported Friday that Rugy’s wife used public money to buy herself a golden hairdryer worth 499 euros (561$). He said the claim was a “lie”.
The revelations come as the centrist government of President Emmanuel Macron looks to recover from six months of anti-government protests sparked by economic inequality and claims that French leaders are out of touch with ordinary people.