Ex-French minister Dati criticised over EU attitude

(STRASBOURG) - Former French justice minister Rachidi Dati came under the EU spotlight Tuesday after a television station released remarks she made suggesting she was bored to be a member of the European parliament.

Her remarks, which were criticised in the assembly in Strasbourg, came during a private telephone conversation with a friend recorded in September by French TV station M6 and which was broadcast on Sunday.

"I'm in the parliament in Strasbourg. I can't stand it anymore, I just can't take anymore. I think something dramatic is going to happen by the time I finish my mandate," she said, not realising her microphone was turned on.

"I'm obliged to stay here, showing off, because there's some media around, and also because there's the election of Barroso," she said, referring to the assembly's endorsement of EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.

When asked by AFP how she felt about her job as a member of the European Parliament, she rejected that she was bored, and said her remarks were linked to a problem of "organisation" in her private life.

"It was a conversation with a friend, therefore totally private, which did not denigrate either the parliament or European activities," she said.

At the time the conversation took place, she said, "I was just learning about the parliament. I had to organise my family life, but also my professional life."

The recording, which was made while M6 was working with her on a report, spread quickly around the Internet, and was heard by the head of her conservative group at the assembly, Joseph Daul.

Daul, a member of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party, said he was surprised by what he had heard, even though he understood that it can "be difficult when a minister returns to becoming a simple European deputy".

"It's a good thing that, from time to time, and certainly at her age, that you can return to being a deputy and learn about humility and leg work again," he said.

Dati, 44, was once a protege of Sarkozy, but fell from his graces and was obliged to quit her job as justice minister in June, then sent against her wishes to the EU assembly.

"I told you she wouldn't be able to stand it, that she would want to head home," Greens party leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit said, describing it as the failure of a policy of "we take someone, and we impose them somewhere."

Dati slammed his comments as "absolutely scandalous".