Written by Hilary Barnes
Many people shake their heads over the excesses of the popular press in Britain, but it might have a beneficial effect on life in France if the French press adopted the same manners and customs.
They cannot, of course, because of the law protecting the privacy of the individual puts narrow limits on what a journalist can say or print about public figures.
This thought occurred to me when reading about the law adopted by the National Assembly on September 18 on “transparency in public life”, which among other things will force members of elected institutions, such as the National Assembly, the Senate and presidents of local government councils, to declare their income, the source of the income and their wealth.
This will be available at the local Préfecture, where anyone on the electoral register can consult the declaration (The Préfecture is the administrative office of the national government in France’s 101 Departments).
But one may not divulge to the public what one has read at the Préfecture on pain of a fine of (up to?) €45,000. In France the now-abandoned U.S. process of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has been adopted, minus the first don’t.
The magazine L’Express, in the issue of September 17, had a long section on the “accumulation of elected mandates” under the rules by which in France it is possible to be a Senator or member of the National Assembly at the same time as the mayor of a city or president of a regional council, a system that the present government intends to abolish.
The system is held by its critics to be one which makes members of the national legislature, and especially members of the Senate, far more interested in using Paris as a base for nurturing the interests of the municipality or region where they also hold office, not to mention a pecuniary interest in “accumulation”, than caring for the national interest.
l’Express revealed that the mayor of Tours is France’s champion accumulator, with no less than 12 mandates, including Senator, Mayor, and president of the Tours conglomeration (pop about 300,000), and various other local government positions.
On reading this, I remarked to my wife that there was nothing in this interesting document about the incomes of the people concerned, not realising that to publish this information could get a journalist into serious trouble.
I now know that there are limits to “transparency” in public life and that I shall never get to know, as I am not on the electoral register (we are residents of the Tours conglomeration). Perhaps I should change that, which as a national of a European Union country, I could for local government elections.
But perhaps not. I might not be able to keep my big mouth shut.