Paris (AFP)
The former first president of the Court of Auditors Didier Migaud, who will chair the High Authority for the transparency of public life (HATVP), strongly supported Tuesday before deputies then senators transparency, which is not "voyeurism" ".
"Transparency is not an end in itself but a means to allow citizens to understand how the law is made, how their elected officials work, how they avoid being in conflicts of interest. It is not voyeurism ", replied Mr Migaud in committee to a question on the idea of publicizing the diaries of deputies.
Mr. Migaud does not see "the usefulness" of such advertising because "the High Authority is not intended to control the daily activity of parliamentarians". On the other hand, he would be in favor of increased transparency on "exchanges, contacts made between elected representatives and representatives of interests" (lobbies).
More generally, he said "believe very much in transparency" while "trust (of citizens) has ebbed".
Emmanuel Macron had proposed Didier Migaud to chair the HATVP, a nomination submitted to the Law commissions of each assembly, which validated it in total by 45 votes to 4.
Didier Migaud had succeeded Philippe Séguin at the head of the Court of Auditors in 2010. Elected local from 1986 to 2010, member of parliament from 1988 to 2010, he was notably general rapporteur for the budget and chairman of the Assembly's finance committee national.
At the head of the HATVP, an independent institution created by the post-Cahuzac laws on transparency of 2013, he must succeed the former high magistrate Jean-Louis Nadal.
The profile of Mr. Migaud, "with a political past" in the Socialist Party, could "have caused debate" but "nobody doubts (his) qualities of rigor and independence", argued Olivier Marleix (LR).
"I believe in the honesty of the vast majority of national and local elected officials," then said Mr. Migaud before the Senate Law Commission. According to him, "you must have the courage to say when things are not going well (...) you must also have the courage to say when things are going well".
The HATVP examines the heritage and activities of members of the government and some 15,000 public officials, and since the Sapin II Law of 2016 has managed a public register of interest representatives. It will also merge from February 1 with the ethics committee of civil servants, and thus control in particular public-private mobility.
© 2020 AFP