Warning: when Bruno Le Maire speaks of abuse, understand that the Minister of Economy and Finance is not referring to illegalities, but rather an excessive practice, “drift” he said. “We have gone too far…“, adds Bruno Le Maire, deploring too frequent and too costly recourse for public funds to consulting firms, McKinsey and the others. Not sure that this confession will delight the Elysée, where Emmanuel Macron repeats that he has nothing Moreover, Bruno Le Maire takes care to exonerate his superior by asserting that this “drift” comes from afar and dates back to previous majorities.
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Except that’s not entirely true. Nor fake by the way. It was not Emmanuel Macron who inaugurated the use of consulting firms. This practice is much older and it really developed from the election of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007. Except that under the first term of Emmanuel Macron, the cost literally exploded! And McKinsey has largely benefited from it… In 2021, the year when the State made the most use of these private firms, the total bill would reach nearly 900 million according to a Senate report delivered in the spring, half for strategic advice, half for IT consulting. Elisabeth Borne has also published a circular to urge ministers to reduce their spending in this area by at least 15%. They would have started doing it this year.
First of all, the impoverishment of the State has deprived it of certain powers and encouraged the public authorities to turn more towards the private sector. There is also a cautious reflex that develops among many politicians: before making a decision, they stuff themselves with strategic notes, impact studies, it’s “belt and suspenders” to better protect themselves against the ‘opinion.
Finally, there is an ideological tropism, reinforced with the election of Emmanuel Macron: the executive is more willing to trust the expertise of the private sector to initiate certain reforms. It remains to be seen whether this “drift”, confessed by Bruno Le Maire, constitutes an offence, in this case disguised campaign financing or favoritism in the award of certain public contracts. And that is now up to the courts to verify.