Socialist Jospin was driven to a weekly cabinet meeting in a diminutive
blue-green Peugeot 106, forsaking his powerful Peugeot 605. Four other
ministers also turned up in electric vehicles.
Jospin said the car was "silent...it went along smoothly and I found it
rather pleasant."
But he said he found it rather cramped and that his security guards
complained there was no space for them alongside Jospin and his driver. The
bodyguards trailed Jospin in a large Peugeot, fuelled by low-pollution gas.
Jospin laughed when asked if his lightweight car had armour-plating, joking
it was a "state secret."
Extra police were called out to enforce restrictions as a noxious brownish
haze blanketed the Paris region, with pollution at health-threatening levels
after many rainless days.