PARIS, April 15 (Xinhua)
-- Members of the French Socialist
government on Monday made an
unprecedented declaration on their individual
assets in a move to regain
voters' trust following former Budget
Minister Jerome Cahuzac's tax fraud
scandal.
On the government's
website, 37 ministrial staff declared their
net wealth that contained "all the
elements of their assets whatever
their nature, size or
location."
According to the
detailed wealth list, the top diplomat
Laurent Fabius enjoyed individual assets
worth up to 6 million euros (about
7.86 million U.S. dollars), the
highest wealth of French public
officials.
In office 10 months
ago, the Socialists were embattled by
tax-evasion affair that forced Cahuzac
to quit office after admitting holding
a Swiss bank account for 20
years.
Struggling to stem the
shocking scandal and regain confidence
of disillusioned people, Prime Minister
Jean-Marc Ayrault promised to present
a law on financial transparency of
ministers during a cabinet meeting by
April 24, before it is submitted to
parliament in coming months.
A
recent IFOP survey showed 63 percent
of French people were in favor
of assets' disclosure. However, in the
right wing, critics denounced the
"useless" measure.
"This is a
diversionary tactic that is useless,
because we would not have detected
the Cahuzac affair if it had
been done before," Florient Philippot,
vice-president of the far right party,
the National Front, told BFMTV news
channel.
"The problem is that
we have a caviar left ... They
must focus on the French problems ..,"
he added.
The latest poll
released on Monday before the
publishing of ministers' assets showed
that French people has no confidence
in their politicians, as only 27
percent of the respondents said they
still remain confidence. (1 euro = 1.31
U.S. dollar)