France: what is the ENA, the "elite factory" that Macron wants to suppress?

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The building of the National School of Administration (ENA), located in Strasbourg, created in 1945 by General de Gaulle. AFP

According to the text of the speech that Emmanuel Macron was to deliver Monday, April 15, and leaked in the press the next day, the president was particularly in favor of the abolition of ENA (the National School of Administration). For years, the prestigious school, training executives of the French administration, is criticized for its elitism. The point on this challenged school.

Remove the ENA, an old sea serpent in France that never succeeded. This measure is however considered by Emmanuel Macron, in response to the crisis of "yellow vests". Created 75 years ago, this school is regularly criticized. What are we talking about exactly? History, role, criticism: lighting.

► What is the ENA?

The National School of Administration (ENA) was created by order on 9 October 1945 by General de Gaulle. His original project: democratize access to the senior civil service and professionalize the training of senior officials, called to rebuild France in the aftermath of the Second World War.

First located in Paris, the relocation of ENA to Strasbourg, initiated in 1991 by Prime Minister Edith Cresson, was completed in September 2005. This measure is supposed to symbolize state decentralization and openness to Europe.

Four competitions, very selective, are proposed to integrate the establishment. Almost half of the enarques enter through external competition, open to students, who come in majority from Sciences Po.

► Who did the ENA?

Many men and women of the Fifth Republic are enarch. Four presidents came out: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Jacques Chirac, Francois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron.

Eight prime ministers also did the ENA: Jacques Chirac again, Laurent Fabius, Michel Rocard, Edouard Balladur, Alain Juppe, Lionel Jospin, Dominique de Villepin, and Edouard Philippe.

Many ministers, from left to right, have also been on the benches of the prestigious school such as Ségolène Royal, Michel Sapin, Bruno Le Maire or Laurent Wauquiez. The school was also directed from 2012 to 2017 by Nathalie Loiseau, former minister in charge of European Affairs and current head of list LaREM in Europe.

► Why is this school criticized?

For its detractors, the ENA is the symbol of a new aristocracy, forming elites that would be disconnected from reality. School is also often singled out for its lack of social diversity and parity.

In response to criticism, the ENA responded Wednesday, April 17 that in the current promotion, 26% of students were scholarship holders in higher education, and that 14% of students are "working grandchildren ."

In the current promotion of the # ENA 26% of students teaching scholars sup.14% of students working grandchildren 9% of grandchildren of farmer 12% of grandchildren of artisan or trader 12% grandchildren of employees 56% of students have secondary education in the region

" When we are justifying ourselves over several generations and talking about the grandchildren of workers at the ENA, it is that there is a problem in the diversity of the elite, " said the following day the member LaREM Aurélien Taché, on France 2.

The largest study conducted on the profiles and trajectories of former students dates back to 2015. It reveals a strong social homogeneity. According to researchers at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and ENA, having studied promotions between 1985 and 2009, nearly 72% of students are children of executives, less than 10% are children of farmers and artisans, and only 6% are children of workers and employees.

► What structure would replace the ENA?

Other large schools should also disappear, such as the National School of the Judiciary (ENM). They would be replaced by a new structure, resulting from their merger.

The goal would be to create a "school of public services", recruiting more diverse profiles. At the exit of the school, the best students would not go automatically in the large bodies of the State (Council of State, Court of Accounts ...).

In 2007, the MoDem candidate, François Bayrou, now close to Emmanuel Macron, also proposed to replace the ENA with a " school of public services " welcoming " people of different experiences, having proved themselves at any age, not just young graduates ".

► What do future candidates think about the competition?

The students who are currently preparing for the ENA competition express their distress. " There was a panic when we learned that, " says Clément, a student at the Prep Contest Science Po. " This worries us, because we invested time, money, a lot of energy for a project over several years. There is bitterness, because we drool. We hope we did not do it for nothing. "

Victor, in the same course, also evokes a " general panic " among the future candidates, who, without official announcement, are " immersed in uncertainty ". According to him, this measure is " pure and simple demagogy on the part of Emmanuel Macron ", in a context of distrust towards the elites. " The main claim of" yellow vests "is more state. And the president's answer is to dismantle it by removing a school, which is certainly open to criticism, but which trains officials who theoretically have the sense of the state. "

► To read also: Headlines: Should the ENA be deleted?