Proposed law to clean up French politics "ambitious", anti-corruption organisation says

Record ID: 877715

  • Title: Proposed law to clean up French politics "ambitious", anti-corruption organisation says
  • Date: 1st June 2017
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JUNE 1, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF "ANTICOR" ANTI-CORRUPTION ORGANISATION VICE-PRESIDENT, ERIC ALT, TALKING TO COLLEAGUES PARIS, FRANCE (MAY 18, 2017) (REUTERS) FRENCH JUSTICE MINISTER FRANCOIS BAYROU WALKING INTO PRESIDENTIAL PALACE PARIS, FRANCE (JUNE 1, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BAYROU DURING NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF ERIC ALT TALKING WITH JOURNALIST VARIOUS OF ALT SPEAKING WITH HIS STAFF PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET (SOUNDBITE) (French) "ANTICOR" ANTI-CORRUPTION ORGANISATION VICE-PRESIDENT, ERIC ALT, SAYING: "It's a quite ambitious proposal, I take note of the end of the high court of justice of the Republic (special court), something we had been waiting for a long time because this court gives a negative image of democracy. There are measures (in the proposed law) for fighting conflicts of interest, unfortunately nothing specific on lobbying, whereas there are still things to put on paper on this topic." ALT SPEAKING TO STAFF MEMBER (SOUNDBITE) (French) "ANTICOR" ANTI-CORRUPTION ORGANISATION VICE-PRESIDENT, ERIC ALT, SAYING: "What needs to be done is to write up a law on the independence of the courts. We will have good laws but good laws are useless if our institutions are not efficient to implement them and carry out sanctions. I think there is a concern there and I think that Mr. Bayrou promised to examine this in the same constitutional reform and we are in any case eagerly awaiting to see what comes out as far as the independence of courts is concerned." VERSAILLES, FRANCE (MAY 29, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON WITH REPUBLICAN GUARD
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2017 17:22
  • Keywords: Anticor corruption ethics cleaning up law politics Macron
  • Location: PARIS AND VERSAILLES, FRANCE
  • City: PARIS AND VERSAILLES, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Lawmaking,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016JG6LVR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A French anti-corruption organization welcomed on Thursday (June 1st) a bill to toughen up ethical standards for public officials.
    Justice Minister Francois Bayrou presented a series of proposals for a new law to clean up politics in France, which has seen its share of corruption scandals.
    Bayrou proposed to get rid of a special court created especially to try members of the French government while in duty.
    Other proposals include a maximum of three similar consecutive mandates for members of parliament, the prohibition of recruiting family members for parliamentary duties and the suppression of a special parliamentary fund. Members of Parliament would also be asked to present receipts in order to get reimbursed for their parliamentary expenses.
    Two of President Emmanuel Macron's main opponents in the elections were hamstrung by corruption allegations during the bitter battle for the presidency and his government has put political probity front and centre in its first two weeks in power. On Thursday, a French public prosecutor opened an investigation into the financial dealings of minister of territorial cohesion Richard Ferrand, whom political opponents had urged to resign.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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