Thursday

28th Mar 2024

French ministers in transparency move after tax scandal

  • Former budget minister Cahuzac lied about his Swiss bank accounts (Photo: Parti socialiste/Mathieu Delmestre)

All members of France's Socialist government are to publish their financial assets within days as President Francois Hollande struggles to overcome a tax fraud scandal involving his former budget minister.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Monday (8 April) "wealth declarations of all the members of government will be made public by 15 April" as part of a set of new financial transparency measures.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

A cabinet meeting on Wednesday is due to approve the measures, with finance minister Pierre Moscovici cancelling a meeting with his American counterpart Jacob Lew on Tuesday in order to devote time to the transparency package and to questions in parliament.

Ayrault said the aim of the new measures is to "more severely punish breaches of the financial law and ethics and integrity rules, and to strengthen the fight against tax fraud and tax havens."

The measures come after it emerged former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac had lied about having Swiss bank accounts and that Hollande's own campaign manager was involved in offshore businesses

The revelations were a major political embarrassment to Hollande who came into office last year on a promise to run a clean government. His popularity has plummeted to a record low of 22 percent.

The opposition has accused Hollande of covering up the scandal or being too naive in believing Cahuzac's denials.

Meanwhile, the bad news keeps on coming.

Swiss RTS television channel on Sunday reported that Cahuzac sought to transfer €15 million from one bank account to another, far more than the €600,000 he admitted to have placed in an undeclared foreign account.

Cahuzac's lawyers denied the report.

Foreign minister Laurent Fabius has also denied a newspaper story that he may have a Swiss account and said he would sue for "false and slanderous information."

In a survey published Sunday in Journal du Dimanche, three in five respondents said they were in favour of a government reshuffle over the scandal.

Hollande so far has held firm on reshuffling calls. But one of his ministers admitted that "we will probably have to have a reshuffle, but not right away," Reuters reports.

France in turmoil over tax-dodging minister

The scandal over France's tax-evading budget minister is threatening to engulf Hollande's government, which had promised an "irreproachable republic."

Top five EU states push for tax transparency

France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK have agreed new measures to fight tax fraud, putting pressure on Austria and Luxembourg to stop blocking an EU-level law.

Ukraine slams grain trade restrictions at EU summit

Restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU could translate into military losses in their bid to stop Russia's war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned EU leaders during their summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  2. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  3. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  4. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  5. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  6. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult
  7. EU unveils plan to create a European cross-border degree
  8. How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us