President Francois Hollande has urged his ministers to stay in France for their holidays to set an example to citizens feeling the economic pinch and unable to afford foreign breaks.
Mr Hollande also reminded his cabinet it had signed a "morality code" to "refuse all luxury breaks offered by foreign governments' and told ministers to remain "reachable and available" at all times, particularly in view of the euro crisis.
Members of government should not accept any summer breaks at the expense of
French or foreign taxpayers, he told them in a council of ministers meeting.
The President, who sold himself to France
as Mr Normal and once declared "I don't like the rich", wants at
all costs to avoid the type of controversies that plagued the cabinet of his
predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.
The worst faux pas came from Michèle Alliot-Marie, Mr Sarkozy's foreign
minister, who took a hospitality jet while on holiday in Tunisia when
revolutionary unrest was already under way. The plane belonged to a Tunisian
billionaire close to ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
François Fillon, Mr Sarkozy's prime minister then admitted to taking a holiday
in Egypt with his family paid for by deposed President Hosni Mubarak's
government.
Mr Sarkozy himself shocked the French by borrowing the private jet and yacht
of billionaire friend and industrialist Vincent Bolloré days after his
election, leaving an indelible "bling" stain on his presidency.
Unfazed, he and second wife Cecilia then flew to the US to holiday in a 22,000 (£17,000) a week luxury villa at Wolfeboro. He used Mr Bolloré's jet again to stay with wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in Egypt, later taking lavish holidays in Jordan, Mexico and Brazil.
After losing his re-election bid in May, the Sarkozys stayed in a palatial apartment in Marrakesh belonging to King Mohammed before jetting off to Canada to take a break in the home of a wealthy media, insurance and investment tycoon.
Mr Hollande and girlfriend Valerie Trierweiler will, in contrast, be taking two small breaks totalling just four days at the 11th century presidential retreat of the Fort de Bregançon on the French Riviera. It may sound idyllic, but Charles de Gaulle was so unhappy after one "nightmarish" mosquito-plagued night there in an undersized bed in 1964 that he never set foot in the place again.
Heeding Mr Hollande's call, prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault will spend two weeks at his holiday home on the Ile de Rhuys in Brittany – the top summer destination for French ministers.
Unfazed, he and second wife Cecilia then flew to the US to holiday in a 22,000 (£17,000) a week luxury villa at Wolfeboro. He used Mr Bolloré's jet again to stay with wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in Egypt, later taking lavish holidays in Jordan, Mexico and Brazil.
After losing his re-election bid in May, the Sarkozys stayed in a palatial apartment in Marrakesh belonging to King Mohammed before jetting off to Canada to take a break in the home of a wealthy media, insurance and investment tycoon.
Mr Hollande and girlfriend Valerie Trierweiler will, in contrast, be taking two small breaks totalling just four days at the 11th century presidential retreat of the Fort de Bregançon on the French Riviera. It may sound idyllic, but Charles de Gaulle was so unhappy after one "nightmarish" mosquito-plagued night there in an undersized bed in 1964 that he never set foot in the place again.
Heeding Mr Hollande's call, prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault will spend two weeks at his holiday home on the Ile de Rhuys in Brittany – the top summer destination for French ministers.
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