France Freezes Parliament Budget, Slashes MPs' Expenses

France, facing a 30-billion-euro gap in public finances, announced its latest austerity move Tuesday with the parliamentary budget frozen for five years and lawmakers' expenses cut by 10 percent.

National Assembly president Claude Bartolone from President Francois Hollande's Socialist party said he wanted a parliament that was "more exemplary, more open and more useful" as he announced the budget freeze.

"For the duration of the presidency, I am outlining the principle of 'not a euro more' for the National Assembly's budget," he told reporters.

Hollande, who took power in May, warned French citizens they would have to make the biggest budget sacrifices in a generation, with 30 billion euros ($38 billion) in savings needed to meet France's obligation to reduce the public deficit to the EU limit of three percent of GDP next year.

The new government has already cut the salaries of the president, prime ministers and ministers by 30 percent.

Bartolone said first-class train travel for lawmakers was now a thing of the past as well as business-class travel for flights under five hours.

He also said the legislature's car fleet would now include hybrids and electric cars.

French lawmakers get 6,412 euros a month for expenses in addition to a net salary of 5,189 euros.