By
Peter Allen
France's new Socialist president owns three holiday homes in the glamorous Riviera resort of Cannes, it emerged today.
The
57-year-old who 'dislikes the rich' and wants to revolutionise his
country with high taxes and an onslaught against bankers is in fact
hugely wealthy himself.
His
assets were published today in the Official Journal, the gazette which
contains verified information about France's government.
Mixed messages: Socialist president Francois
Hollande portrays himself as an enemy of the rich - and yet he holds
assets worth almost £1million
To the undoubted embarrassment to the
most left-wing leader in Europe and a man who styles himself as 'Mr
Normal', they are valued at almost £1million.
It
will also reinforce accusations that Hollande is a 'Gauche Caviar', or
'Left-Wing Caviar' - the Gallic equivalent of a Champagne Socialist.
Among
other assets are three current accounts in French banks - two with
global giant Societe Generale and one with the Postal Bank - and a life
insurance policy.
But it is the fabulous
property portfolio which is causing the greatest stir among millions of
ordinary French people who voted for Holland over the conservative
Nicolas Sarkozy last Sunday.
Hollande
regularly attacked the 'Bling-Bling' presidency of Sarkozy, whose
multi-millionaire lifestyle with Italian-born heiress Carla Bruni
contributed to his humiliating election defeat after just one term in
office.
Bling-Bling and Mr Normal: Hollande's campaign
was helped by public disapproval of the multi-millionaire lifestyle
enjoyed by his rival Nicolas Sarkozy (left)
As well as the spacious Paris apartment
he shares with his lover Valerie Trierweiler, Hollande owns a palatial
villa in Mougins, the prestigious hill-top Cannes suburb where the
artist Pablo Picasso used to live.
It
is valued by the Official Journal at €800,000 (£642,000), and is just a
short drive from Hollande's two flats in the Cannes. They are each
priced at €230,000 (£185,000) and €140,000 (£112,000).
Hollande
has promised to cut his pay by 30 per cent after he is officially sworn
in as President next week, but he will still be on €156,000 (£125,000) a
year, plus fabulous expenses and other perks.
Shacking up: Hollande shares his large Paris apartment with partner Valerie Trierweiler
He intends to set a top tax rate of
75 per cent, and to increase France's controversial wealth tax - moves
which have already seen wealthy people threatening to leave the country,
and move abroad to places like the UK.
Meanwhile, Hollande wants to pour public money into France's public service, creating thousands of new jobs.
He
has has also threatened to block the eurozone's new financial treaty
unless Germany agrees to renegotiate its stringent austerity measures.
Hollande wants the treaty, seen as crucial to ensuring the survival of the single currency, to focus more on encouraging growth.
Benoit
Hamon, spokesman for Hollande's Socialist Party, said that the
'politics of austerity' was failing to improve the continent's financial
crisis.
He said the
president-elect was determined to win a 'trial of strength' over the new
fiscal pact, which aims to impose budgetary discipline on the 25
European Union countries who have signed up.
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