France to cut debts with big property sale

Foreigners were welcome to join the bidding, Budget Minister Francois Baroin said.

But any buyer, whether a film star, foreign government or ordinary taxpayer, will undergo thorough background checks.

By releasing a long-term list of state properties, the government appears determined to avoid the kind of controversies and secrecy that dogged some past sales of French property to shady magnates or deposed despots.

The properties up for sale include chateaux, such as one in Thonon-les-Bains built in 1800 and perched on the shore of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps.

Another is a royal hunting lodge and guest house in a forest west of Paris. "Buildings unoccupied for many years. Needs restoration," reads the listing.

The sale is part of a larger effort to streamline bureaucracy in a country where more than a third of workers are employed by the state. A large chunk of the properties for sale belong to the Defence Ministry.