FRANCE:Centrist leader François Bayrou has promised to abolish France's most elite graduate school if he becomes president next month.
France is largely run by the alumni of the exclusive Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA), which has educated two past presidents, including Jacques Chirac, and seven of its past nine prime ministers.
But the small school has faced accusations in recent years that it has become out of touch, creating an arrogant and self-serving class of senior officials.
Yesterday Mr Bayrou said it was time to scrap ENA and start again. This represents a challenge to Socialist party candidate Segolénè Royal, who studied at the school along with her partner, Socialist party chief François Hollande. Neither Mr Bayrou, nor conservative frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy attended ENA and both present themselves as self-made men. - (Reuters)