Allow me to go back to my two initial comments. In absolute terms, objectively speaking, owning property always offers advantages. However, you also need to have staff with high-end expertise. We have some, but not enough, and in order to attract more, we would have to offer working conditions similar to the private sector. Furthermore, and I'm not being partisan, governments would have to agree to invest huge sums in upgrading the real estate portfolio, something that successive governments have always refused to do because real estate is not a key component of government services. You just have to look at what is being done in other Western countries. Let us take the example of banks: their goals is to make money and they have sold off most of their real estate around the country.
On April 24th, 2007. See this statement in context.