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French officials resign amid spending scandals
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By:
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happier
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Mood:
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Other
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Date:
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Jul 04, 2010
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Music:
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None
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Two
members
of
sac
French
President
Nicolas
Sarkozy's
government
quit
their
jobs
Sunday
after
a
succession
of
scandals
over
lavish
spending.Christian
Blanc,
secretary
of
state
for
the
greater
Paris
area,
who
ran
up
a
$15,000
Cuban
cigar
sacs
bill
charged
to
taxpayers,
and
Alain
Joyandet,
secretary
of
state
for
overseas
development,
who
hired
a
private
jet
at
a
cost
of
$143,000
for
an
official
trip
to
the
Caribbean,
submitted
their
resignations
Sunday
night.
Joyandet
had
also
come
under
increasing
fire
over
claims
that
he
broke
planning
laws
to
gain
a
permit
for
an
extension
to
his
housesac
ид
main
pochette
in
the
Mediterranean
resort
of
Saint-Tropez.
On
his
blog,
Joyandet
wrote:
"As
a
man
of
honor,
I
cannot
accept
being
the
victim
of
allegations.
After
much
thought,
I
have
decided
to
leave
the
government."He
added:
"Not
one
euro
of
public
money
was
used
toward
my
personal
wealthor
that
of
my
portefeuille
close
amily."
The
two
ministers
submitted
their
resignations
to
Sarkozy,
who
accepted
them
without
any
statement.
portefeuilles
As
French
citizens
feel
the
pinch
of
the
world
economic
crisis,
the
nation
is
reeling
from
a
series
of
stories
over
abuses
of
perks
by
lawmakers.
Last
Monday,
Sarkozy
ordered
a
crackdown
on
government
portefeuillecuir
perks
by
restricting
the
use
of
official
planes,
cars,
staffs
and
even
office
equipment.
Many
sac
main
pas
cherhere
who
are
being
asked
to
work
longer,
harder
and,
in
some
cases,
for
less
money
are
dismayed
by
the
examples
of
luxury
and
privilege
enjoyed
by
their
leaders.The
ministerial
resignations
vente
de
sac
came
as
the
French
government
struggled
to
contain
another
crisis.
Eric
Woerth,
the
labor
minister,
is
under
fire
over
his
links
to
France's
richest
woman,
L'Oreal
heiress
Liliane
Bettencourt,
who
was
recently
accused
of
tax
evasion.
Allegations
that
Bettencourt
hid
money
in
Swiss
bank
accounts
came
as
Woerth
was
forced
to
acknowledge
that
his
wife
worked
for
a
firm
managing
vente
sac
the
cosmetics
billionaire's
finances.
So
far,
Woerth
has
fought
off
calls
for
his
resignation.
Willsher
is
a
special
correspondent.
THH
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