FRANCE: Lara Marlowe reports on the extraordinary pampering of France's public servants
It is often said here that politicians and civil servants who enjoy inordinate privilege at taxpayers' expense vivent sur la bête - live off the beast.
But if the majority of Frenchmen could be persuaded to read two documents published this summer - a parliamentary report on state-owned property and an 82-page book produced by the satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchâiné - this country might stage another revolution.
In a throwback to pre-revolutionary times, 137,520 French officials and government employees are housed free of charge, or for a symbolic pittance, in often luxurious state residences.
They include the president, most government ministers, a dozen deputies and 38 senators. Doctors, lawyers, bankers, architects, army officers, spies, museum curators, teachers, security guards and even the heating technician for the National Assembly are among those who enjoy rent-free, tax-free housing.
These residences, which range from chateaux to modest apartments, are justified on the basis of "nécessité absolute de service" - the inhabitant is in theory on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. While this might be understandable for the paramilitary gendarmerie - 75,000 of whom are housed by the state - the justification is more dubious for the other 62,520 French men and women living in official residences. Tax collectors and central bank cashiers, for example, don't really need to sleep near their safes anymore.
The government owns 28,000 buildings (separate from 30,000 administration buildings). This property portfolio is worth €37.2 billion and costs €2 billion to manage each year.
Georges Tron, the right-wing deputy who drafted the parliamentary report, wrote that France is "10 to 15 years behind our neighbours" in managing its real estate holdings, adding that "such sloppiness is no longer acceptable".
At a time of record budget deficits, when middle-class Parisians are forced to move out of the capital because rent is so high, between 18 and 20 per cent of the state's official residences are not even occupied.
No other European country lodges its agents on such a grand scale; indeed, the highest-ranking French officials also have country houses at their disposal. In Ireland, only the President enjoys an official residence. In Germany, even the president and chancellor pay rent for their state-owned homes.
Not in France, where President Jacques Chirac has been fed, lodged and laundered in official housing almost continuously for 33 years, since he became minister for agriculture in 1972. During their 18 years at Paris City Hall, Mr and Mrs Chirac spent an average of 7,259 French francs (€1,106.63) on food every day.
An investigation started in 2002 by the present socialist mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, was eventually buried.
Since 1995, the Chiracs have inhabited the Élysée Palace, home to French presidents since 1874.
Known informally as "le château" the Élysée contains 365 rooms, including a cinema with 22 leather armchairs and a four-star kitchen that serves 200 meals a day, washed down with vintage wines from the 12,000 bottles in the presidential wine cellar.
First Lady Bernadette has taken a special interest in the ducks in the palace garden. Every Bastille Day, she has them moved to the country to protect them from the 4,000 guests at the garden party.
The president's official summer residence is a 16th century fort - once a pirates' hideout - atop a 35m cliff at Brégançon, on the Côte d'Azur. He has been quoted as saying, "à Brégançon, je m'emmerde!" which politely translated means, "at Brégançon, I'm bored to death." But since the Chiracs created a scandal by spending €3,350 per night on a holiday in Mauritius five years ago, Mr Chirac has been condemned to summer boredom.
With no personal interest in hunting, Mr Chirac dissolved the committee that oversaw three presidential hunting grounds, but the tradition continues.
About 15 times a year, the president's office invites ministers, parliamentarians, CEOs and diplomats to hunt wild boar on the grounds of Chambord castle, pheasant at Marly, or small game at Rambouillet. A day's hunting can cost up to €30,000.
France's generosity towards its public servants is often arbitrary. While the ministry of culture disposes of 900 lodgings - including 350sq m overlooking the Seine for the director of the fine arts school - none are reserved for the minister. The prime minister's private apartments in Matignon Palace are so small - 80sq m - that several prime ministers have preferred to stay in their own homes. The palace's three-hectare garden - the largest private park in Paris - almost makes up for the cramped quarters.
The prime minister can also escape to La Lanterne, an 18th century mansion on the grounds of Versailles, with tennis courts and a large pool.
In addition to his apartments on the Quai d'Orsay, the French foreign minister also disposes of the Château de La Celle-Saint Cloud, 10 minutes outside Paris.
Until last year, Jean-Claude Trichet, former governor of the Banque de France, now president of the European Central Bank, occupied a 420sq m duplex with a terrace overlooking the Palais-Royal gardens. The Banque de France owns close to 1,000 apartments in 124 buildings, and houses its directors, cashiers and guards free of charge.
The bank also rents luxury apartments to 280 people with no apparent links to the bank, including the actor Roger Hanin and the speaker of the National Assembly Jean-Louis Debré, for as little as half the market price.
Ever since Louis XIV built it, the huge Château de Versailles has been the example, par excellence, of property megalomania. Today it houses 230 official apartments, including, since 1958, weekend residences for the six highest-ranking members of the National Assembly and Senate.
Mr Debré doesn't use his, and this year wrote a draft law to "give Versailles back to the French".
But the senators are determined to hang on to their 5,400sq m in the palace.