France To Auction Wine From Cellar Of Presidential Palace

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Our last word in business today, is austerity at the French presidential palace.

President François Aland has already enacted several cost-cutting measures since being elected last year.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

He's cut a fleet of presidential and government cars and reduced ministerial salaries, and now he's raiding the wine cellars for which the presidential palace is famous.

MONTAGNE: The palace will auction off 1,200 bottles of its finest wines - some worth more than $3,000. It hopes to raise over $300,000. The proceeds will be reinvested in more modest wines for the presidential cellar. Clearly no self-respecting French president would have an empty wine cellar.

GREENE: That would never happen. After buying those cheaper wines, the money left over will go to the state budget. For the first two months of this year, France's budget deficit was $35 billion, so whatever money is saved with this wine decision, it'll really just be a drop in the bucket.

That's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

MONTAGNE: And I'm Renee Montagne. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.