Eric Woerth had outlined the outcome Sunday

Florence Woerth, the wife of the Minister of labour, will quickly leave Clymene, the company managing the assets of Liliane Bettencourt. Eric Woerth had outlined the outcome Sunday. "This is already more than a year that it wants to leave - of course it is going to - for reasons of personal disagreement", he said at the "Grand meeting" Europe 1 "Le Parisien". Yesterday, the Minister spoke to journalists a departure from his wife "in the next few days", i.e. before the beginning of the trial of artist François-Marie Banier, accused of "abuse of weakness" by the daughter of the billionaire. Report except in extremis, the trial is scheduled July 6 1 in Nanterre.

However the situation has become very sensitive to Florence and Eric Woerth since publication, Wednesday last by "Mediapart" of extracts of records pirated of conversations between Liliane Bettencourt and the patron of Clymene, Patrice de Maistre. In several interviews, he explains to the billionaire as Eric Woerth, then Minister of the Budget, would have helped the Institute who wished to build an amphitheatre André Bettencourt retrieve local of the Paris Mint. Then, beginning of March, according to recording put online yesterday, he would have to accept to Liliane Bettencourt, according to his allegations, a payment of money to Eric Woerth but also to Valérie Pécresse and Nicolas Sarkozy (these last two instalments of 7.500 euro having been confirmed in the "world" by Patrice de Maistre). Finally, on April 23, he explained that the Minister of the Budget would have "asked" in 2007 to hire his wife, a choice that Patrice de Maistre seems to regret today.

Since the publication of these extracts, Eric Woerth totally disputed these assertions. With regard to arbitration for the Institute, he did that "implement a decision" already made by his predecessors at Bercy. Liliane Bettencourt is one of the "donor" of UMP - which is perfectly legal - but he has "never" seen money. And above all, provides, it is not requested on hiring his wife and had "no information" nor "no instructions" on the tax record of Liliane Bettencourt. "That challenge my honesty, will still require that he rises early." "Ethically, I am very uncomfortable," insisted yesterday, believing that Patrice de Maistre had wanted "to boost" to Liliane Bettencourt referring to relations with the Minister. For its part, the billionaire announced yesterday in a press release tax regularization of all of its assets "that would be still abroad".

The issue of conflict of interest

If it has changed in nature, political pressure on the Minister has not declined. During the weekend, the former MEP become financial judge of Europe ecology Eva Joly and the PS Deputy Arnaud Montebourg had demanded the resignation of Eric Woerth, followed by the Communist members yesterday. At point press yesterday, the spokesman of the PS, Benoît Hamon, did not accept this angle of attack preferring claim of "clear and precise responses" to a series of questions, which it: "Did there not - as the common sense of the command - a conflict of interest between the mission of his wife and the role as Budget Minister and Treasurer of the UMP" PS also wants to know "the exact cheque amount" paid by Liliane Bettencourt to the UMP. In doing so, the opposition challenge, as it has already done in the past, the overlapping between the functions of Eric Woerth to the Government and its maintenance for the post of Treasurer of the UMP. A rollup that Labour Minister said yesterday, "assume perfectly." It is "a politician", "natural persons have the right to assist the parties in the framework of the law". And "the law is the law," he insisted.