Xavier Bertrand's slip of the tongue "in defence" of Fat Cat salaries

Ah what would the world be without the occasional political gaffe?

The previous centre-right led Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) government was full of ministers capable of delivering a howler or two.

Former justice minister Rachida Dati proved herself to be adept at unintentional sexual references when speaking of "oral sex" ("fellation") rather than "inflation" during an interview on foreign investment funds.

Her slip up made the subject so much more...er...interesting.

And on another occasion she managed to introduce "dildo" ("gode") rather than "code" (of conduct) into an interview about  laicity and Islam.

Dati wasn't alone of course. There was also Frédéric Lefebvre the (wait for it) junior minister for trade, small and medium enterprises, tourism, services, liberal professions and consumption (where was the kitchen sink?) who showed his literary prowess when asked which classic French work had made the biggest impact on him.

Sadly Lefebvre came up with the ready-to-wear clothes company "Zadig ET Voltaire" rather than "Zadig BY Voltaire.

And let's not forget Nadine Morano (who could?) when...well, she said just about anything that came into her mind or struck her fancy but perhaps the most memorable was  confusing "Renaud" the singer and "Renault" the car manufacturer.

Mary Hopkins time:

                        "Those were the days my friend,
                        We thought they'd never end."

The new government hasn't quite got into its stride yet, but that doesn't matter.

The new opposition - or the former government if you like - is proving itself to be well up to the job of maintaining a strangehold on the art of delivering a lapsus linguae.

More on than in a moment.

First some background.

The recently-elected French president, François Hollande, is on something of an exemplary cost-cutting exercise.

One of his first decisions was to reduce ministers' pay by around a third.

It was a campaign promise and one he "made good on" as soon as the new 34-strong government was named.

Next up is the pledge to cap the salaries given to the big cheeses of companies which are state-controlled or, in the case of nuclear power plant builder Areva or utility giant EDF, it still has a majority stake.

The government is apparently still working out the fine print but is expected to announce in mid-June that top company executives' pay will be limited to 20 times that of the lowest paid worker.

An end, in part, to the so-called fat cat syndrome in companies such as EDF (84 state-owned) where CEO Henri Proglio reportedly earned a miserly €1.6 million in 2011.

Of course some might try to argue that setting a "maximum salary" will make it difficult for state-owned companies to attract top talent and it'll be nigh on impossible to impose on the private sector.

But few could argue against the injustice that exists between some top earners and those at the opposite end of the scale.

Well that's unless you happen to be a Xavier Bertrand, the former minister for labour, social affairs and solidarity in the last government under prime minister François Fillon.

Xavier Bertrand (screenshot Europe 1 interview)

Bertrand was the invited guest on Europe 1 radio on Thursday morning and perhaps revealed a little more than he intended - albeit by means of a slip-of-the-tongue - about the thinking behind the previous government's attitude.

"I've always been in favour of excessive salaries (for top executives) " he told journalist Jean-Pierre Elkabbach.

"I said as much when I was a member of the previous government and I'm not going to change my mind now."

Elkabbach, seasoned journalist that he is, interrupted just to make sure he had heard correctly and in so doing allowed Bertrand to correct his mistake.

"Always in favour of excessive salaries?" questioned Elkabbach.

"Ah certainly not," replied Bertrand calmly, realising his error.

"I've always been in favour of limiting excesses (of payment)," he said.

"Whether it's in a period of crisis or not, it's always necessary to set a good example."

Ah, it's so good to hear and see that some things about the UMP haven't changed.

The French government's million-billion loan muddle

It's an easy enough mistake perhaps getting a few zeros confused especially when the amounts involved are to most of us pretty mind boggling.

But it's not really the sort of error you would expect from a government purportedly more adept at matters financial and charged with balancing the nation's books.

That however, is exactly what the French government has been up to recently, proudly outlining on its official site how the planned €35 billion loan, announced by the president, Nicolas Sarkozy, earlier in the month "to boost the country's competitiveness and fund the best universities in the world" would be spent.

On Christmas Eve it went online with a breakdown of how the money would be apportioned to each of the main sectors such as universities, small businesses, sustainable development and the digital economy that would spearhead Sarkozy's plan to ensure that France could "fully benefit from the recovery, so that it would be stronger, more competitive, and create more jobs."

Except someone clearly got in rather a muddle as to the number of zeros involved, or simply repeatedly hit the wrong letter on the keyboard (after all it can easily happen to those unfamiliar with the French AZERTY layout) because the 35 billion suddenly became a rather more modest 35 million.

And there the blunder remained for all to see until the afternoon of December 29 when the figures were corrected.




For those who might have missed what was - as the government's press service assured - "a mistake" - the national daily Le Figaro helpfully published a screen shot of the "million-billion" mix-up.

Perhaps it was the timing of the release that left the rather embarrassing miscalculation in the public domain for four days.

After all who in their right mind would take a break from the Christmas festivities to take a glance at what was on the government's website?

But of course it's not the first time the French government has had problems with the flow of information making it on to its own site.

Back in August it published the names of Frédéric Lefebvre, Axel Poniatowski and Paul Giaccobi as three new junior minister appointed to the government, before quickly taking them down again the same afternoon in what initially described as a "technical problem" and was later explained as "human error".

Strauss-Kahn's loo chinwag with Sarkozy

All right, so let's end the week with the news to end all news, as reported "exclusively" (and then picked up by other French media outlets) in the weekly magazine, Le Point.

It involves the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK): the two men who could just go head-to-head in the race for this country's presidency in 2012.

The story dates back to September this year during the G20 summit in Pittsburgh when Strauss-Kahn reportedly took Sarkozy to task while the two men were taking a loo break.

Yes, even the powerful need to make a trip to the restroom now and again.

And DSK was nothing if not candid, telling the French president that he was fed up with the repeated gossip about his private life.

"I'm sick and tired of it," he said. "And especially the supposed files and photos that could be used against me," he continued.

"I know the source is the Elysée (the president's official office), so tell your guys to stop it otherwise I'll get the courts involved."

So what brought upon the apparent outburst?

Well a few days earlier a book had been released in France, "Hold-uPS, arnaques et trahisons" in which two political journalists, Karim Rissouli and Antonin Andréa, took a critical and controversial look at the French Socialist party in recent years, its leading figures and its divisions; a sort of "tell all" if you will.

The book included a remark made in 2006 by Frédéric Lefebvre, then a member of Sarkozy's campaign team and now spokesman for the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party, about the possibility of DSK being the Socialist party's candidate and therefore Sarkozy's opponent in the 2007 presidential election.

Lefebvre is alleged to have told Rissouli and Andréa that the UMP had information that would seriously damage DSK's reputation should he become his party's candidate.

"It wouldn't take a week," he was quoted as saying." We have the photographs. They exist. And if we release them, the French won' like it."

An explosive (putting it mildly) assertion, which Lefebvre insisted he had never made, but one which obviously remained with DSK, whose lawyer in Paris, Jean Veil, confirmed to Le Point that he had been instructed to file a complaint should there be "any more defamatory assertions."

Somehow the race for the 2012 French presidency - although still a long way off - is already promising to be an interesting one.

French national identity - the grand debate

Politicians and the media in France have been literally falling over themselves in response to an interview given by the immigration minister, Eric Besson, last weekend in which he said he wanted to launch a major discussion over "national values and identity".

To start from the beginning of November it will be, in the words of the minister, a debate to determine how best “to reaffirm the values of identity and the pride of being French.”

Not surprisingly perhaps reactions came thick and fast with the media quickly jumping on the story.

Radio and television stations asked audiences what they thought about the idea and newspaper websites invited comments.

Reactions from politicians ranged from support from members of the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party to scepticism or outright condemnation from opposition parties.

Frédéric Lefebvre, the UMP spokesman welcomed the idea saying that it wasn't "the return of a debate on national identity that should be surprising, but the blurring of that identity."

The leader of the centre Mouvement démocrate (Democratic Movement MoDem) party, François Bayrou, though was more guarded, insisting that defining or determining "national identity is not for politicians."

"It's like history," he said. "It's not up to politicians to try to monopolise the subject."

For Vincent Peillon, a European parliamentarian for the Socialist party, the call for opening a debate on national identity was symptomatic of a certain "sickness" in France and would have an negative effect on how the country was viewed by others throughout the world.

"France has never talked about national identity," he said. "And it's dangerous to open the debate like this."

Benoît Hamon, the spokesman for the Socialist party, was harsher in his reaction accusing Besson of pandering to the far-right Front national (FN) ahead of next year's regional elections in making illegal immigration a central issue before the vote in March.

"Eric Besson is applying the ideas of the FN," he said.

"He's cynically carrying out parts of its (FN's) programme," he continued.

"It's all part of government policy of keeping illegal immigrants in a state of extreme hardship to dissuade them from coming. "

And from the FN itself came the call from Marine Le Pen for a "Grenelle on national identity" to be held, similar to the one there had been for the environment as her party had "a lot of things to say on the subject."

Maybe the most measured response though came from a member of the UMP itself, in the shape of the former prime minister and current mayor of Bordeaux, Alain Juppé.

Writing on his blog, Juppé cited the discourse "Qu'est-ce qu'une nation?" ("What is a Nation?") given by the French philosopher and historian, Ernest Renan, back in 1882.

"The definitions of the nation are numerous," writes Juppé. "It seems to me that the explanation given by Ernest Renan, remains unsurpassable," he continues before quoting from Renan's speech.

"In defining what the nation is, Renan said 'the essential element of a nation is that all of its individuals must have many things in common and they must also have forgotten many things,''" quotes Juppé.

"Renan also said a nation is 'a sense of solidarity, one that supposes a past but is summarised in the present by a tangible fact: the consent, the clearly expressed desire to continue living together,'" continues Juppé.

"Everything has been said," concludes Juppé.

"What's the point of starting the debate all over again?"

Sarkozy appoints new ministers - oops, no he doesn't

It was a rumour that had been doing the rounds of the Net for some time and certainly ever since the reshuffle at the end of June: the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was about to appoint three new ministers to a seemingly ever-increasing government.

And briefly on Friday the speculation seemed to be confirmed when the official website of office the prime minister, François Fillon, "appeared" to have made the announcement.

The names of Frédéric Lefebvre, Axel Poniatowski and Paul Giaccobi popped up as new junior ministers on Friday afternoon, visible to anyone who logged on to the site, curious to have a look around at the composition of the French government.

Some might have thought it odd that there hadn't actually been any official announcement of the appointment, but surely not as strange as what happened a couple of hours later.

Their names and profiles disappeared from the site. In other words the three "newbies" had barely been ministers for three hours before they were to all intents and purposes de-ministered.

Initially the explanation from the prime minister's office was that there had been a "technical problem", presumably a way of saying a "bug in the system".

But the blunder - because that's what it was - was later attributed (of course) to perhaps the much more credible "human error".

Apparently one of the webmasters had entered information she was filing into the wrong place, and rather than it being hidden, it was published "live".

Oops.

So no new job for the moment for any of the three men and Lefebvre is reportedly less than happy over the incident.

The spokesman for the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) had been hoping and expecting to be named to the government back in June.

But if media speculation is to be believed, he and the others - plus the rest of the country - will have to hang on until next March to discover whether there'll be another government reshuffle.

That's because Sarkozy is now thought to prefer to wait until after the regional elections before making any more new appointments.

Ah the wonders of the Internet. Great when everything runs smoothly and just as it should. A bit of an embarrassment when there's a glitch or someone presses the wrong button.

Ségolène Royal apologises to Spain on behalf of Sarkozy

Yes you read the headline correctly, Ségolène Royal, the Socialist party candidate in the 2007 French presidential election, has written to the Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, apologising for remarks made by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, last week.

And her letter has led to a wave of protest from the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement (Union for a Popular Movement Populaire, UMP) left the Socialist party leadership not quite knowing how to respond and dominated the French headlines for the past couple of days.

Perhaps you remember that Sarkozy is alleged to have made comments during a meal at the Elysée palace (his official residence) in which he criticised some other world leaders.

In a story that made many of the world's newspapers Sarkozy purportedly said for example that Zapatero wasn't particularly clever, German chancellor Angela Merkel lacked vision, and US president Barack Obama was inexperienced.

At the weekend Frédéric Lefebvre, the spokesman for the UMP rejected the story which first appeared in the left-of-centre national daily Libération, saying that it was a "tract" by the paper in an attempt to ruin the reputation of the country.

"This daily, after having lost a number of readers, is also losing its credibility," he said.

Even though some people present at the meal have denied that Sarkozy made such a statement, Libération is standing by its story and the paper's publishing director, Laurent Joffrin has even written to the Elysée palace requesting an apology.

Enter centre stage Ségolène Royal and her "apology" to Zapatero on behalf of the French president - a move which has had the centre-right virtually fuming with indignation and some strong language.

Immediately after news of the letter surfaced, the UMP big wigs and "friends of Sarkozy" started firing their salvoes and attacking Royal.

Xavier Bertrand the president of the party accused her of being "a specialist of manipulation".

Yves Jégo, the junior minister for overseas department put in the boot saying "she has ridiculed and dishonoured our country."

A long-time friend of the French president and now minister of employment, Brice Hortefeux went on the offensive saying that Royal "should apologise for all the silly statements she had made."

And Lefebvre perhaps said what many in the party seemed to be thinking in launching the most personal of attacks and suggesting on national radio that Royal had "lost her marbles" and perhaps needed "psychological help".

So the Socialist party was making headlines again - or more accurately Royal was - as it was her name that was on everybody's lips and featuring prominently within the French media.

Indeed the reaction from the Socialist party itself was mixed. The leadership - namely Martine Aubry, the woman who beat Royal in the race to become the party's general secretary last December, remained silent.

But others - most notably Vincent Peillon, one of Royal's "lieutenants" and most loyal supporters was willing to speak out saying "It's not by getting used to the habit of Sarkozy insulting ipolitical partners that France will rediscover its credibility."

Pierre Moscovici a member of parliament for the Socialist party commented that he was sorry for what were "extremely sexist remarks on the part of the UMP" and Jean-Marie Le Guen, another French Socialist party parliamentarian weighed in by insisting that the rhetoric about who should apologise for what had been a more than a little muddled.

"It's not the declarations of Ségolène Royal that are offensive," he said. "But those of Sarkozy about Spain, Merkel etc."

Into Monday and the debate still raged, this time with a former Socialist party education minister and culture minister, Jack Lang, stepping into the fray.

"I want to say to our Spanish friends, 'forgive her'," he said on national radio.

"How can one react to unsubstantiated rumours that have even been denied by those who were present at the meal and write to the prime minister of Spain 'in the name of France'?" he asked.

"It's completely disproportionate and inadequate," said Lang describing Royal's behaviour as a "faux pas".

So what is everyone supposed to make of Royal's actions?

Perhaps the answer lies in a report made by François-Xavier Bourmaud, a political journalist for the centre-right national daily, Le Figaro.

While the debate continues over whether Royal was right or wrong to do what she did, one thing is for certain. She is back in the limelight and once again using the tactic of "provocation" - a strategy that has proven to be typical of her behaviour in the past, according Bourmaud.

"She lost the leadership battle (in December) but with 50 per cent of the membership behind her she still has a voice that counts - as the polemic surrounding her current statements proves." he says.

"When François Hollande (her former partner) was leader of the party, he responded 'what do you expect me to do? She doesn't behave in the same way politically as the rest of us.' And now the party is seeing yet again that she refuses to play the political game in the same way as the rest of them," he added.

"But in the long term it could help her to establish herself as being far and away the strongest opponent (to Sarkozy) because in two years when the Socialist party is choosing its candidate, it'll probably be based on a series of polemic and one thing is certain - Royal is not going to stop."