Posted on 05/17/2012 10:17:21 PM PDT by Olog-hai
France's new left-wing government started work on Thursday with pledges to combat excessive austerity but better manage public finances, marking the debut with a 30 percent cut in pay for President François Hollande and all ministers.
The sizable wage reduction was endorsed at a first meeting of the 34-minister team, a day after Germany's government awarded raises to its ministers and Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose pay will overtake Hollande's.
Pierre Moscovici, France's newly-appointed finance minister, set the tone, reiterating Hollande's demand Berlin and other eurozone capitals rework a fiscal pact agreed in March, to add pro-growth measures alongside commitments to deficit reduction.
"What we've said is the treaty will not be ratified as it stands," Moscovici said. "We're firm on this." …
The pay cut, implemented by a decree the ministers approved, takes immediate effect and will require a law but be backdated to mid-May in Hollande's case, government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said.
A government statement said the cuts would reduce the gross pay of ministers to €9,940 a month from €14,200 and cut the salary paid to both Hollande and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to €14,910 a month, from €21,300. …
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Now that is rich!!!!! That is like a mob boss taking a pay cut. They cut their “pay” but just make up the difference plus by shaking down all the “ham and eggers”!!!!!
* for you youngsters ham and eggers are the regular saps.
Well, that’s Reuters for you . . . if it sounds like it’d make the left sound good, it’s fit to print, unbiased POV be damned.
There is zero to like about France and its new president. ZERO. (But a government pay cut is very cool and we could learn from that)
I agree with not particular anything great about the new President, but France however is a pretty great country. I have been there 3 times and it is a pretty neat country. So much to do and regardless of the reputation, the people are pretty nice.
I was there in 1989, including Paris. Surprisingly, I didn't find the people in the city to live up to that "rude" reputation. They just seemed like folks in any city, just hurriedly going about their business.
The folks in Normandy were my favorite... some of the nicest, most hospitable people in the world. And at least at that time, they LOVED Americans!
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