France's upper house of parliament, the Senate, on Wednesday chose a veteran conservative as its leader, who is expected to face pressure to scale back perks at what one newspaper called the "assembly of the privileged".

Gerard Larcher, a member of the conservative UMP party that controls both the Senate and the lower house National Assembly, will now take over the job that makes him first in line to replace President Nicolas Sarkozy should he be judged unable to hold office, resign, or die.

The row over perks for occupants of the senate's gilded halls had been quietly brewing for weeks after a book and newspaper articles focused on what they call a cushy job.

It took on new impetus over the weekend when Larcher's fellow UMP colleague and Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand said he found it absurd that the body's leader could keep "an apartment for life."

The row forced outgoing leader Christian Poncelet to begrudgingly say he will give up a 200-square-metre apartment when he retires in 2014, despite rules that allowed him to hold on to it indefinitely.

The incoming Larcher, a rotund 59-year-old former labour minister, has built a reputation as a sharp-witted speaker with a jovial character during his time at the National Assembly under previous governments.

He will likely face pressure to trim fat from the budgets of what one anonymous senator -- cited by left-wing daily Liberation -- called the "only club that pays its members".

Le Monde daily has quoted him as saying that he wanted to bring more "transparency" to the senate's accounts and that "everything will be examined, without exception".

Senators can take out real estate loans with an average 2 percent interest, and retire with a state workers' package from 60 years of age at around 80 percent of final salary.

Senators who work in the palatial senate building overlooking Paris' elegant Luxembourg Gardens earn 5,400 euros a month and around double that for expenses.

In 2007, the 343-member body ran a budget of 340 million euros ($481 million). It also holds an independent 1 billion euro pension fund.