Budget ministry tops earners list

STAFF at the Budget Ministry, charged with cutting back France's national debt, are the highest paid civil servants in France.

The average wage of the top three highest earners is €15,117 per month according to an investigation led by a Socialist Party MP.

Such a wage level is more than for civil servants in the prime minister's department or in the Budget Ministry's parent department, the Finance Ministry.

It is nearly twice that of staff in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose top brass earn around €8,822 a month.

Report author René Dosière told the Journal du Dimanche: "I understand that the level of pay at the Finance Ministry is higher than other departments. To work so closely with the private sector you have to pay people suitably.

"However, I think in this case we are way beyond 'suitable' pay."
Mr Dosière had asked the government to give the average wage of the top three best-paid and worst-paid staff in each of its departments.

In six departments, the top staff earned more than the minister in charge.

Jérôme SALORT - Fotolia.com