COPY LINK

POLITICS

French minister under fire over dinners with €500-a-bottle wines and giant lobsters

A prominent French cabinet minister was under pressure on Wednesday after a report claimed he had hosted luxury dinners while parliament speaker with allegedly little connection to his position.

Published: 10 July 2019 17:16 CEST

French minister under fire over dinners with €500-a-bottle wines and giant lobsters

French minister Francois de Rugy and his wife Severine. Photo: AFP

The left-wing Mediapart website said Environment Minister Francois de Rugy had hosted a dozen such dinners from 2017-2018 at the French parliament speaker's official residence.

De Rugy did not deny hosting the dinners, but vigorously rejected the claim they had been purely social events not linked to his job at the National Assembly.

Best detail in story about calls for resignation of French minister François de Rugy because of his taxpayer-funded gourmet dinners is that he was serving £500 plus bottles of Entente Cordiale Mouton Rothschild 2004 signed by Prince Charles. pic.twitter.com/EWHhyYDjdB

— Peter Allen (@peterallenparis) July 10, 2019

“These were not dinners between friends. These were informal working dinners with people who have relations with a political authority,” de Rugy told reporters, slamming the article for being “misleading” and “tendentious”.

Mediapart alleged that the events were essentially organised by his journalist wife Severine de Rugy for their circle and included luxuries such as champagne, vintage wines costing up to €500 a bottle, and giant lobsters.

The left-wing website, which has earned a reputation for stories that irk the establishment, published images of de Rugy posing at a candlelit table and his wife with a €500 2004 Mouton-Rothschild bottle of wine.

The revelations come as the centrist government of President Emmanuel Macron looks to recover from six months of anti-government protests sparked by economic inequality and claims that French leaders are out-of-touch with ordinary people.

De Rugy, who is from an aristocratic background, is a former environmental activist who joined Macron's party during his successful bid for the presidency in 2017.

Mediapart said the dinners for between 10 and 30 guests were at the expense of the state, while de Rugy's office insisted that they were linked to his work in representing the lower house of parliament.

He also received backing from government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye who said Rugy retained the support of Macron and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.

She said that it was clear his work as parliament speaker required sometimes “extremely diverse” forms of contact with different civil society members.

Member comments

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Cohabitation

The far-right Rassemblement National of three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and current party leader Jordan Bardella are tipped to be the party with most seats after the second round on July 7th.

If the RN and its allies did secure a majority in the Assemblée Nationale – and current polling suggests this is doubtful – Macron would find himself in a “cohabitation“, in which the president and government are from opposing parties.

Post-war France has experienced three such forced marriages. All were between the left and the centre-right with the last from 1997-2002 between President Jacques Chirac and Socialist premier Lionel Jospin.

Cohabitation: What happens in France’s political ‘forced marriages’?

A cohabition between the Macron and his far-right arch-enemies would likely be a much unhappier affair.

While the far-right would be able to implement part of its domestic programme, on, for example, curtailing immigration, only the president can call a referendum or trigger a vote on constitutional changes.

The president, who usually sets foreign and defence policy, could also find his hands tied if the RN appointed nationalist defence and foreign ministers opposed to his worldview.

Coalition

France has spurned coalitions since the post-war 4th Republic (1946-1958) when the country went through 22 governments in 12 years.

Since losing his parliamentary majority in 2022, Macron has sought to cobble together alliances in parliament on a vote-by-vote basis or to force through legislation without a vote rather than form a pact with another party.

The RN or the left could try do the same if they fall short of a majority but a minority government of the far-right or left would likely fail to pass a vote of no confidence.

Aware of the risks, RN leader Bardella has said he will refuse to become prime minister unless he wins an outright majority.

Macron’s camp hopes that in the event of a hung parliament it could form a coalition with moderates of the left and right.

As part of its outreach to possible allies, Macron’s party has not entered candidates in 67 constituencies where centre-right or centre-left candidates are running.

But Macron has limited his options by putting the hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI) — the dominant force in the NFP — on a par with the far-right in what he calls the country’s “extremes”. He accuses LFI of anti-Semitism, which it rejects.

Caretaker government

Another option would be for Macron to appoint a technocratic non-partisan government which all parties could get behind.

Camille Bedock, a political scientist at the Emile Durckheim centre in Bordeaux, cites the example of Italy, where respected former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi formed a national unity government in 2021 when Italy was in turmoil. It lasted a year-and-a-half.

Bedock said Macron could also decide to leave the current government headed by his party’s Gabriel Attal in place in a caretaker capacity for a year. He could then call new elections.

This would have the benefit of ensuring continuity through the Olympic Games (July 26th – August 11th) when the country will be under intense global scrutiny.

Whether the far-right or left would support such a move, which would effectively buy Macron time to try turn around his presidency, is highly uncertain.

Macron resigns

The most dramatic scenario would see Macron resign if faced with the prospect of being neutered by the far right or the hard left.

Le Pen, who is expected to try succeed Macron in 2027 presidential polls, has warned that he “will have no choice but to resign” in the event of a “political crisis”.

Macron has vowed to remain on office until the end of his second term in 2027, whatever the outcome.

You can follow all the latest election news HERE or sign up to receive by email our bi-weekly election breakdown