"It's a trial of intent. When you speak, for 16.5 million euros for a full year, of McKinsey 477 times, it is indeed a political operation", estimated on RMC the leader of the majority deputies.

The Senate, dominated by the right-wing opposition, revealed on March 17, within the framework of a commission of inquiry initiated by the small group CRCE with a communist majority, that the contracts concluded by the State with the consulting firms like McKinsey had "more than doubled" between 2018 and 2021, reaching a record amount of more than €1 billion in 2021.

The senators also took legal action for "suspicion of false testimony" against a McKinsey executive who had claimed that his firm paid corporate tax (IS) in France, while the commission of inquiry noted that the French entities of McKinsey had not paid any IS for ten years.

"Fake news"

"We assume. The State has always had recourse to consulting firms since the beginning of the 2000s. Valérie Pécresse implemented the university reform law by relying on consulting firms. On the right as on the left they run local authorities who have recourse to them", said the Minister of Public Accounts Olivier Dussopt on Radio J.

"State expenditure on intellectual services represents 0.3% of all salaries of state agents. Everywhere in Europe it is four times more", according to the minister.

The Minister of Public Transformation Amélie de Montchalin wished in L'Express "to dissociate what relates to the legitimate substantive debate" and "what relates to false information" which feeds "conspiracy theories", and refused to let " to say that there was favoritism of such and such a company, because public procurement responds to very strict rules and numerous controls".

“If there is evidence of manipulation, let it go to the criminal”, Emmanuel Macron had launched on Sunday March 27 to those who reproach him for these numerous contracts.

The candidate president had considered in particular that the non-payment of the IS by McKinsey was explained by the tax rules in force.

At a meeting in Toulouse, Jean-Luc Mélenchon castigated Emmanuel Macron, a "liberal" who "brought the private sector into the state" with consulting firms.

"Who can believe that a private company will give advice for the general interest?" Asked the rebellious tribune, suggesting not to "entrust to the private sector what the State and its officials are capable of doing themselves. ".

The rebellious presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon during a meeting on April 3 on the Place du Capitole in Toulouse Matthieu RONDEL AFP

The leader of the LR senators, Bruno Retailleau, denounced "a scandal" with the "mixing of genres between the private and then the public", the "possibility of a return of the elevator" of McKinsey executives who would have supported Mr. Macron in 2017, and the non-payment of the IS.

In the program "Le Grand rendez-vous" Europe 1 / CNews / Les Échos, the senator considered "even more serious" the "calamitous management of the State", and deplored the "dependence" generated by the use of "foreign firms".

For the head of the RN Jordan Bardella, Emmanuel Macron has become "the figurehead of private interests", in "hallucinating contradiction" with his speech "when he talks to us about French independence".

"It's a contempt for the state, a contempt for the general interest".

Far-right candidate Eric Zemmour accused Emmanuel Macron on the same channel of "returning the elevator" and "giving information" to an American cabinet.

© 2022 AFP