French politicians forced to holiday at home

After a string of "holiday gaffes" and with the impending presidential election hanging in the balance, Nicholas Sarkozy’s ministers and their Socialist rivals have been forced to spend their usually lavish summer break on call at home this year.

By FRANCE 24 (text)

 

The French don’t take their summer break lightly. Known as the “summer truce”, the nationwidepause is not only for school children. With almost everybody disappearing for at least three weeks, shops, pharmacies, and even newspapers close down across July and August. The mammoth break is eagerly awaited by millions of 9-5ers, and that includes politicians.

But this year, France’s leaders have less to look forward to. President Nicholas Sarkozy gave an early warning last month via government spokesperson Valérie Pécresse, with the following statement: “Ministers don’t take holidays. They are on call 365 days a year.” Sarkozy reiterated the previously unheard of concept this Monday when he set off for his sejour in the south of France – accompanied by his briefcase.

 

CAMERON’S MISTAKE German and Spanish leaders Angela Merkel and José Zapatero joined Nicholas Sarkozy in holidaying at home, rather than risk the wrath of their respective electorates. But Britain’s David Cameron failed to catch on, and subsequently came under fire for hiring a €10,000 villa in Italy.

While the rest of Europe’s politicians might find this notion quite obvious – the financial crisis is in full swing, don’t jet off to the Bahamas – the French have rarely come under such scrutiny before concerning their summer whereabouts.

 

“This is normally the time for a clean break in the political calendar in France,” says Stéphane Rozès, researcher and political science professor at Paris’ elite Sciences Po university. “But this year, the financial crisis and pre-election situation means that French politicians have to stay on the ball.”

 

A working holiday

 

For the leading Socialist candidates hoping to challenge Nicholas Sarkozy in next year’s presidential poll, the break will be a particularly laborious one. Martine Aubry said she off to Brittany to “do her homework”, while favourite to win François Hollande is busy drumming up support at a jazz festival in the south-west. 

 

“For the presidential hopefuls, these are just semi-holidays,” says Rozès. “They’re allowed a rest, not a vacation.” Candidate Ségolène Royal (who lost out to Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential election) has set out to prove that point. She is slicing her treasured break in half, by promising to be back at work on August 15 instead of the 24th. 

 

Libya, anyone?

 

The whereabouts of ruling party members are under even closer scrutiny after a string of shamingtravel-related blunders earlier this year. Sarkozy’s former foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, wasforced to resign in February after she holidayed in Tunisia during the uprising that ousted Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

 

Just days later, Prime Minister François Fillon came under fire after it was revealed that he had been treated to a holiday in Egypt by now deposed president Hosni Mubarak.

 

“These affairs forced politicians to buck up their ideas,” Rozès says. “But the president’s warnings go beyond that. Along with the upcoming election and the ongoing financial crisis, there’s also France’s involvement in a number of military operations abroad. It all makes for a good incentive to opt for a simple family holiday.”

 

The majority of Sarkozy’s ministers have heeded to the call. Those who dared to stray across the borders did not go far: Prime Minister Fillon headed to Italy, and another UMP minister… to Belgium.