French minister criticized for lobster party

Investigative website Mediapart reported this week that French Ecology Minister Francois de Rugy and his wife hosted lavish dinners, mostly for friends, at their official residence in central Paris between June 2017 and October 2018, when he was president of the National Assembly. The dinners included luxuries such as lobster, fine champagne and vintage wines.

Mediapart said the dinners had little to do with his work and were more of a private family event. The minister had used taxpayers' money to pay for them. Many French people were outraged by the news and called for Rugy to resign.

Rugy, meanwhile, insisted that the parties were related to his work, calling them “informal working dinners.” Rugy added that he “never paid more than €30 for a bottle of wine,” avoided lobster because of his “allergy to crustaceans,” and avoided champagne because it gave him headaches.

Rugy stressed on July 12 that he would not resign, although he had considered the option. "I have absolutely no reason to resign. That is what I told the prime minister, who did not ask me to do so," Rugy said after a two-hour meeting with French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.

The gap between rich and poor is one of France's biggest problems. French President Emmanuel Macron's government has faced criticism from many people that it does not care about ordinary people and only benefits the rich. Mr Macron has been called the "President of the rich" because of the tax cuts he has introduced for France's richest people to boost investment.