Paris (AFP)
The entire career carried out in France by Jean-François Cirelli, current boss of the asset manager BlackRock France, "justifies" his promotion in the order of the Legion of Honor, defended the Minister of Economy on Friday Bruno Le Maire.
"Mr. Cirelli has exercised functions that justify the decoration he will receive today, whether as deputy director of the Prime Minister's Office (Jean-Pierre Raffarin), or as president of GDF. He has a career which justifies the decoration which is allotted to him today and which I point out it was validated by the Large Chancellery ", declared the minister on the sidelines of a displacement in Paris.
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 the New year. This news was denounced by the opposition which joked a choice of the "capitalization fund camp" in the battle over pension reform.
"Since we are in a period of vows, I would like to make a wish for the year 2020, it is that politics in France comes back to reason and leaves the terrain of the fantasy in which it is too often found," added M. Le Maire in reference to the controversy on the subject.
"It's anything but anecdotal, BlackRock, it's simply the dark side of pension reform," lambasted Olivier Faure, first secretary of the PS on Thursday, referring to the promotion of Mr. Cirelli.
"I remind you that BlackRock is an asset manager. So BlackRock does not deal with retirement pensions, so we are mixing things that have absolutely nothing to do with it," insisted the Mayor.
An American company established in France for 13 years, BlackRock claims to manage a portfolio of assets of some 7,000 billion dollars worldwide, including around 30 billion with French customers.
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