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For nearly twenty years, reports have been piling up pointing to the bad deal made by the State with the privatization of motorway companies. What does Dominique de Villepin, who made this decision in 2005, think? In this excerpt from “Complementary investigation”, the former Prime Minister of Jacques Chirac recognizes certain errors in the drafting of the contracts signed with the construction giants.
Whether they come from the Court of Auditors or the General Inspectorate of Finance, many official reports explain that the State signed contracts that were unfavorable to it when the motorway companies were privatized. “The French have been harmed twice: first as taxpayers, twenty years ago, then as motorists, every day”wrote the Senate Inquiry Committee in 2020. The senators even advocated to “no longer extend the duration [des] concessions” and adjust”the contractual frameworkin other words to renegotiate with the motorway companies.
But the agreements signed in 2006 do not allow it, according to the former general rapporteur of the Budget Gilles Carrez. He is one of those who believe that these contracts “were drafted in an unbalanced way”. In an interview granted to the teams of “Complément d’Enquête”, the former UMP deputy explains that the State has not provided for a clause “back to better fortune” during the very long duration of the concessions. In the event of a drop in interest rates, for example, “it would have been normal for the State, the grantor, to recover part of this good news”, what “was not planned”, regrets Gilles Carrez.
“Too long contracts” and without a review clause
What does the person who signed these contracts on behalf of the government, almost twenty years ago, think? In “Complément d’Enquête”, Dominique de Villepin sketches the beginning of a mea culpa. The former prime minister acknowledges “contracts that are too long”, and regrets the absence of a “review clause” which, for example, would have made it possible to limit the excessive payment of dividends to the benefit of the shareholders of motorway companies. Under these conditions, Dominique de Villepin knows it: it will not be easy to erase the line “motorways” from his CV as a former Prime Minister.
But he assumes and defends his decision. “No, the motorway companies have not been sold off”, he assures. By selling them for a little over 14 billion euros, the State has made a good deal which has allowed France to get out of debt, according to him.
Extract from “Tolls, superprofits: our (too) expensive highways”, a document to see in “Complementary investigation” on June 29, 2023.
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