France puts brakes on official cars

THE FRENCH government is putting the brakes on the cost of its official fleet of cars, finance minister Michel Sapin has announced.

Mr Sapin told Le Parisien that the government will save €150m by cutting its fleet of 65,000 vehicles by 10% over the next two years. He said that the State owns too many vehicles and that some of them are rarely used.

Some of the excess government vehicles could be sold off.

He also said that expensive options, such as leather seats, would be banned in future purchases, even for the most senior government ministers.

And he reiterated the government’s commitment to buying ‘green’, originally announced by environment minister Segolene Royal, saying that a third of all new vehicles bought this year would be environmentally friendly, and that the ratio would increase to 50% next year.

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