Is the parliamentary reserve institutionalized clientelism?

Interviewed by Nice-Matin, the parliamentarians of the Alpes-Maritimes “agreed to reveal what they do with their own reserve”… In reality, only 8 out of 14 actually provided the exact amounts and beneficiaries: Christian Estrosi (UMP), Jean Leonetti (UMP), Lionnel Luca (UMP), Colette Guidicelli (UMP), Jean-Pierre Leleux (UMP), Louis Nègre (UMP), Rudy Salles (UDI), and Marc Daunis (PS). They should be congratulated!

For Jean-Christophe Picard, head of Anticor 06, the response is unambiguous: “The parliamentary reserve is nothing more than institutionalized clientelism, perfectly incompatible with virtuous democracy.”

And he justifies his remarks as follows: “Upon reading their declaration, a few anomalies emerge. For example, two deputies have clearly not understood that our Republic is secular. French taxpayers will surely be thrilled to learn that, thanks to Lionnel Luca, they are financing the Association for Vencian Religious Buildings and Objects and the Saint-Bernard Parish Association. Similarly, through Rudy Salles, everyone contributes to the development of French Christian Radios, the Chalom Nitsan radio, the Support and Aid Association for Israeli Patients in Nice, the Jewish Youth Education Department, and the Nice-North Catholic Family Association!

It is also surprising that Lionnel Luca deemed it useful to help “sailing champion Stéphane Christidis who, after his failure at the Beijing Olympic Games, had no sponsor left.” Similarly, Rudy Salles chose to give a boost to “Passion Automobiles.” Clearly, our elected officials’ priorities are not always in line with the needs of the population…

But the most surprising is that only Jean-Pierre Leleux stands against the principle of this parliamentary reserve. And rightly so…

Indeed, this system is inherently clientelistic. Deputies can thus water the associations of their constituency (as Rudy Salles does by favoring no less than 78 associations in his electoral territory!). Likewise, senators can financially assist mayors… who are also the ones voting in the senatorial elections!”