According to an article I have just read in the Le Parisien newspaper, the government has decided that it is going to cut its official fleet of cars down in size to help reduce costs.
The Finance Minister, Michel Sapin told the Le Parisien that the State owns too many vehicles and that some of them are rarely used. The aim is to save €150m which it hopes to acheive by cutting its fleet of 65,000 vehicles by 10% over the next two years.
Some of the excess government vehicles could be sold off.
He also added that in future, when decisions are made on the vehicles being bought, that expensive and luxury options, such as leather seats, would be banned even for the most senior government ministers.
And he also reiterated the government’s commitment to buying a ‘green’ option, which was 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.
Personally I am amazed that it has taken this long for this measure, and cannot see why the green option is not automatic on every purchase, and even getting virtually all the fleet to environmentally friendly.