Paris (AFP)

The opposition denounced Thursday the Legion of Honor of Jean-François Cirelli, president of the asset manager BlackRock France, seeing there the choice of the "capitalization camp" while the government assures that BlackRock has "not much to gain "in pension reform.

Jean-François Cirelli, former director of GDF-SUEZ, then of Engie, and current president of the French branch of the most important asset manager in the world, has been appointed officer of the Legion of Honor in the contingent of the Prime Minister in the promotion of New Year, a news extensively commented since Wednesday on social networks.

"It is anything but anecdotal, BlackRock, it is quite simply the dark side of the pension reform", denounced Olivier Faure, first secretary of the PS, on France 2.

"I see the Duck Chained which reveals how much BlackRock has been since the election of President Macron the permanent guest of this power, and which today is decorated, so it's anything but an anecdote, it's is actually the choice of a side, that of capitalization funds, "he further accused.

"The presentation of the legion of honor to Jean-François Cirelli is a provocation. It reveals the close links that exist between Macron and the world of finance," commented on Twitter Fabien Roussel, the boss of the PCF.

LFI MP Danièle Obono used the same term "provocation" on Sud Radio, recalling that "for weeks" LFI "explains that, in truth, this reform aims to reduce the pay-as-you-go pension to the minimum amount".

"Jean-François Cirelli dismantled Gaz de France, of which he was CEO. Now boss of BlackRock, he will enrich an American pension fund by taking advantage of the destruction of our pension system," said the president of Debout on Twitter. France Nicolas Dupont-Aignan.

The Secretary of State for the Economy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, justified on BFMTV the legion of honor of Jean-François Cirelli, a "gentleman (...) who speaks in positive terms of France as a place where we can invest, where we can create activities, (...), it serves our country. " Regarding BlackRock, she assured that "they do not have much to gain" in this pension reform because "it is a box of Smarties, the French market", "it represents nothing compared to their management asset ".

"It is not a box of Smarties, the question of pensions in France, it is part of a logic of expansion of this type of asset fund", answered him on LCI the candidate EELV for the town hall of Paris David Belliard, for whom "there is porosity between the lobbies and the government".

Founded in 1988 in the United States, BlackRock said on the occasion of the publication of its latest financial results manage a portfolio of assets of some 7,000 billion dollars.

"In no way have we sought to exert an influence on the reform of the pay-as-you-go pension system underway with the public authorities or any other actor in the sector," recently assured in a press release the French subsidiary of BlackRock.

© 2020 AFP