A voluminous 361-page report, after having heard 47 people under oath and analyzed more than 7,000 documents: this is what the Senate Commission of Inquiry into the influence of consulting firms during the term of office delivered on Thursday March 17. by Emmanuel Macron. Its conclusions are clear: consulting spending has doubled since 2018, reaching an estimated cost of 894 million euros in 2021.
The extent of the phenomenon surprises Arnaud Bazin, senator Les Républicains du Val-d’Oise and president of this commission of inquiry. “The phenomenon is sprawlinghe observes. We find, in all the policies of the State, the intervention of these consulting firms in an exponential way. For the report’s rapporteur, this phenomenon sheds light on the action of the current government. “They are installing their logic of reducing the number of civil servants, who can be replaced by private firms, no matter if it costs a lot of money”tackle Éliane Assassi, communist senator from Seine-Saint-Denis, referring to a short sentence from Emmanuel Macron which at the time evoked social minima.
The elected official delivered a real indictment against the place that these consulting firms occupy in the public policies of Emmanuel Macron’s term of office. “Yet it is public money. And again, we only have a minimum estimate [de l’argent dépensé] because we only interviewed about 10% of state agencies.” She evokes a “deep intrusion of the private sector into the public sphere”which participates in the belittlement of those who work in the French administrations.
Through its work, the commission wishes to reveal a system and demonstrate that the firms were particularly solicited during the health crisis linked to Covid-19. She points in particular to McKinsey, described as “keystone of the vaccination policy” government or Accenture, “architect of the vaccine pass”. The McKinsey firm is also particularly targeted by the work of elected officials. With more than 12 million euros billed during the health crisis, he is the one most used by the executive. However, the senators have discovered that he practices tax optimization.
“McKinsey has not paid corporation tax in France for at least ten years, while its turnover on national territory reached 329 million euros in 2020, of which approximately 5% in the public sector. .”
Éliane Assassi, communist senator and rapporteur for the commission of inquiry into consulting firmsat franceinfo
These facts will lead to a judicial inquiry. The senators also denounce services paid but which are not the subject of any follow-up. This was the case, for example, for a McKinsey report intended to prepare for the pension reform, which was ultimately postponed. “We know that there is a power point and a small 50-page notebook. For a service at 950,000 euros, it’s expensive per page”denounces Eliana Assassi, who asks: “Where is the report ?” Another McKinsey report on the teaching profession – invoiced nearly 500,000 euros – will not lead to the planned mission. Despite their request, the senators were not able to consult these documents, although they were sometimes presented to the defense council, thus reinforcing the feeling denounced in this report of great opacity in the use of public funds.