There was a very interesting article in this weeks Times and Telegraph..... about the expenses allowed for French MPs who have recently voted 4 to 1 against any requirement to prove how this money is spent. It appears MPs are allowed £60,000, yes..pounds not euros,... for expenses...no receipts required.....(the article explains this is considered part of their salary so they all claim it) this is £5,000 every month for each and every MP....'The generous sum that some MPs reportedly use to fund holidays and other perks, comes on top of their annual salary of 72,000 euros a year and a further 109,000 euros in annual staff expenses, again a sum handed out regardless of what they spend the money on'. The MPs apparently dont have to show if or how they spend the 109,000 euros for employing staff either....
Frankly...for a socialist country...where taxes are such that many businesses are loath to employ anyone because of the responsibility and cost of employing staff....I think this is outrageous! The Telegraph stated...'The National Assembly voted by four to one against a proposal by Charles de Courson to make MPs account for how they spend the 6,412 euros (£5,000) monthly allowance they currently receive no questions asked. In all, this amounts to 45 million euros per year of unaccountable expenses'. Makes the fuss over MPs expenses in the UK look very tame.....pigs and snouts in troughs comes to mind..... delighted to hear why my taxes are so high.....
Well if the French can behead their Royals...maybe their MPs should be in line next...they are a greedy lot of useless individuals who are milking the system and should be ashamed...if I lived here I would be campaigning... making a lot of noise...the French seem so passive....do the government put something in the water???
In and around Cambridge, we used to hold MPs to 'ransom', my acquaintance, Huntingdon MP who had been at the same school as me and became the most boring PM ever, was particular victim. We did it by taking turns to write letters EVERY DAY, quite a large group of us who took turns. It broke them down. Here, sadly it does not work. We have access to a Deputé through a friend who is his niece and he has done us favours which we did not ask for, but as for getting us in touch with out elected representative, also he could not acheive that. Sure, the French would benefit from changeing that with a doubt, but the way people are voted then waft off to Paris and only pop back occasionally excludes the local clinics for a start. So, and especially not being voters, we lump it.
I think the point is...when the UK MPs expenses became known...there was such a furore...there was no choice but for them to change the system...rightly....they were taking the pee....the fact that the French..who lets face it, are not shy about striking...and showing their displeasure...put up with this cr*p...I am truly shocked! if I were French I would be screaming blue murder. The other point Brian is that they dont communicate....Ive written (in French) to 2 MPs....about problems experienced....one with France Telecom and there is no answer...our Marie in St Cyprien...shrugged and said Tres normale! which isnt inspiring....Ive written probably a dozen letters to MPs over the years and many emails...in part many were work related regarding blind peoples services...but hand on heart...never once was I ignored..every time I received a reply...and that makes the French situation all the worse..I know how bad Italy is...we have friends who have lived there for 30 years....and they no longer notice it...that is my problem..I have always been very political and I dont stop noticing...!
It is always worse somewhere else. Take a look at Italy and you will work out very quickly that being a politician or senior civil servant seriously contributes to the country's finacial woes.
The ENA brigade and a few other exceptions, there are far less French MPs born with the good old silver spoon. OK, two wrongs do not make a right of course and them reaping the fat of the land and squeezing everybody else is not at all fair. Think about the fact that a wayward Chinese ex-minister who was still in parliament when he and his family became implicated in a series of scandals with money a main feature of them all, is on the run at present and described as one of the richest men in China with umpteen millions of US$. That is not exactly a right wing regime either, is it? I suspect that when we scratch deep enough, that all political systems and countries they are in come out the same in the wash.
Frankly I was amazed...if France was a right wing country I could understand...but the whole thing about not having huge discrepancies between workers wages...and then finding this....not so unlike the days of the Polit Bureau....where all the Russians in charge were coining it in and the poor old proletariate were starving! I dont think its a case of feeling its still the right country to live in.....its a problem in a country that you enjoy living in and should be sorted out! the Brits were shocked at their MPs expenses...this is way out of even their league!
I fullly agree, my OH was due to retire under the 40 year work rule just weeks before the pension reform came in. Having run a successful business in France and paid all the social charges (a huge sum as he employed others) it was time for a break from the back breaking work. Everything was wound down and then the bombshell hit! The amount that the MPs (and civil servants) expenses could quite easily be put into the pot and the 46% of the population who do not work for the government (but pay the majority of charges) could be treated as the first class citizens that we are. Tax professional was abolished to be replaced by two taxes (both of which we still seem to be liable for - although the business is no longer operating). Still must not grumble, the LGV has only knocked 50% off the value of the house - not that we have any intention of moving. For all the gripes (and I needed a rant) we would not be anywhere else. Cie la vie.