In a brief pre-recorded television appearance President François Hollande sought to regain the political initiative after the damaging and hugely embarrassing admission by his former budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac that he did have a secret Swiss bank account. However, two of the three policy proposals unveiled by the president to prevent further scandals had already been announced and the third may face constitutional obstacles. Meanwhile the opposition says the president failed to answer key questions about his own role in the Cahuzac affair, as pressure also mounted on another key government figure, finance minister Pierre Moscovici.
In the end it amounted to just a modest updating of government policy. On Wednesday morning the president's office at the Elysée had revealed that François Hollande would be making a – pre-recorded – television address to the nation in the wake of former budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac's dramatic admission that he had lied to everyone about his secret Swiss bank account.
