French PM says Mubarak paid for his family's Egypt holiday

[Lars77]

Source: Sidney Morning Herald

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon admitted Tuesday that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak paid for his and his family's New Year holiday on the Nile and lent them a plane to go sightseeing.

The shock revelation came as France's foreign minister battled calls for her resignation over a New Year holiday in Tunisia during which she used a private jet owned by a tycoon allegedly close to the country's ousted dictator.

Fillon's office rushed out a statement after the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine broke the story about his trip to Egypt, where 300 people have been killed in massive street protests seeking to oust Mubarak.

Advertisement: Story continues below
The Fillon family got a free holiday that lasted from December 26 to January 2 in the Nile resort of Aswan, and were treated to a Nile boat ride and a flight on an Egyptian government plane to go sight-seeing, it said.

Read more: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/french-pm-says-mubarak-paid-for-his-familys-egypt-holiday-20110209-1alvp.html

[OKDem08]

1. oppression of the masses has its perks apparently n/t

[grahamhgreen]

2. So, really, we gave money to Mubarak that he used to pay for this guys vacation.

[Lars77]

8. Yeah the rest went to torture. nt

[nyy1998]

3. Wait? So a satirical weekly comes out with this story and it's actually true?

Maybe I should pay more attention to the Onion, hmmmm.

[suffragette]

7. See post #6

Looks like it has a history as a combo satirical and political investigative paper.

Sounds like a combo of Tom Tomorrow, Horsey and French-centered Wikileaks.

[bemildred]

4. Such Good Friends. nt

[WatsonT]

5. Seems like a good time to wash our hands

of the whole affair.

Keep our ~2 billion dollars/year in aid here and use it for something more productive.

[suffragette]

6. So first Alliot-Marie and now Fillon

Fillon has been defending Alliot-Marie.
http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/french-news/french-government-defends-minister-over-tunisia_128496.html

French government defends minister over Tunisia

The French government Tuesday cooled expectations that Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie might resign over alleged links with the ousted Tunisian regime, expressing full support for her.
President Nicolas Sarkozy had refrained from explicitly backing her when questioned on a trip to Poland Monday, but Prime Minister Francois Fillon and another minister were quoted Tuesday as saying she had the leaders' full backing.
"I would like to express to Michele my total support. She has the support of the president of the republic and of the prime minister," Fillon was quoted as telling a private meeting of lawmakers, by several who attended along with the minister herself.

And Alliot-Marie's vacation is doubly interesting given a statement she made during Tunisia's protests:
http://www.france24.com/en/20110207-france-tunisia-alliot-marie-foreign-affairs-minister-tunisia-private-jet

Alliot-Marie set off a first controversy on January 11 when she told the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, that France could “offer the know-how of security forces to help control” Tunisian protesters calling for Ben Ali’s resignation.

Nine days later and in the wake of Ben Ali’s flight from power she was forced to admit she had misspoken. At a hearing before the National Assembly’s foreign affairs committee on January 20, she said: “It is inconceivable to believe that France could lend its security forces to another country”.


Looks to me like Fillon realized this would be discovered and tried to release it now and with spin before it was tracked down.

On a very quick search, found this:
http://213.158.162.45/~egyptian/index.php?action=news&id=14082&title=Mubarak%20opens%20projects%20in%20Aswan
Mubarak opens projects in Aswan
The Egyptian Gazette Online
Thursday, December 30, 2010 09:35:08 PM

The projects will help provide new jobs and improve living standards there,
according to senior officials.
Among the projects Mubarak opened yesterday was a natural gas line west of the Nile in Aswan city, costing LE5.7 billion ($1 billion), reported the official Middle East News Agency.
This line extends from Dahshour, near Cairo to Aswan. Later in the day, Mubarak received French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, who is on a private visit to Aswan on the occasion of the New Year.



Hmmm, wonder what they discussed?


I wasn't familiar with "Le Canard enchaîné" but looked them up and finding the info fascinating. Much, much more than a satirical paper (though it looks to include that), it apparently has been around a long time as a political investigative paper:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Canard_enchaine

edited to try to make link work since link with included accents would not post correctly