Sarkozy rejects illegal campaign donations
Sarkozy rejects illegal campaign donations
FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy has rejected as "shameful" claims that he accepted cash from L'Oreal billionaire Liliane Bettencourt, which has overshadowed a crunch pensions bill.
The bill is key to his reform plans before a possible 2012 re-election bid.
Sarkozy, according to Agence France Presse (AFP), went on television to calm an uproar over the alleged illegal donations and fought to put a campaign funding scandal behind him, ending his labour minister's double role as party treasurer and pushing on with major pensions reform.
The man at the centre of the scandal, Labour Minister Eric Woerth, said he would give up his role as treasurer of the ruling UMP party, which has fuelled allegations of a conflict of interest in the government.
Woerth formerly served as Sarkozy's budget minister, meaning that he was in charge of hunting tax evaders at the very same time that he, as UMP treasurer, was soliciting money from ultra-rich donors, allegedly including Bettencourt.
Bettencourt's former accountant, Claire Thibout, has accused Woerth of accepting 150,000 euros (190,000 dollars) from the 87-year-old billionaire as chief fundraiser for Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign.
Sarkozy and Woerth firmly deny this and accuse the media and opposition of a smear campaign. A government report cleared Woerth of accusations that he helped Bettencourt evade taxes, but police are investigating her finances.
Woerth was also accused of a second conflict of interest since his wife worked for a company managing Bettencourt's fortune - and advising her on tax strategies - while he was still tasked with fighting tax dodgers.
Bettencourt, 87, is France's richest woman and was one of the biggest beneficiaries of a tax break for the wealthy passed by Sarkozy after he won the 2007 election, receiving a lawful 30-million-euro rebate.
The French president insisted Woerth will stay on as labour minister to enact the reform but said he advised him to step down as treasurer of the UMP to "devote himself exclusively to pension reform."
The leader of the opposition Socialists, Martine Aubry, pounced on Sarkozy's sole concession. "It means he recognises there is a conflict of interest," she said on France 3 television.
The three-week scandal has weakened Sarkozy, whose poll ratings have hit their lowest level since he took office in 2007 and who is fighting a difficult battle over the pension reform.
His government on Tuesday approved the text of a controversial draft law to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, which will now pass to parliament, ministers said after the meeting.
The lower house National Assembly is due to vote on the bill in September, and it will then require approval by the Senate. Sarkozy says he hopes for it to be passed by the end of October.
The reform aims to slim France's big budget deficit but labour unions complain that it puts an unfair burden on workers. They staged mass street protests last month and have vowed more in September.
Sarkozy on Monday cited France's debts and pointed to the higher retirement ages of its European neighbours and the effect of an ageing population.
He has refused to back down on the most controversial plans: raising the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 by 2018 and bringing public sector pension plans in line with the private sector.
His unbending stance angered opponents.
Aubry said Sarkozy had signalled "no change of course that could offer hope in the face of this moral crisis we are going through and this terrible economic and social crisis.
"He goes on like before, self-assured and self-satisfied."
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