Bruno Le Maire on consulting firms: “We have gone too far”

The French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, and the Deputy Minister of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, on September 26 in Bercy (photo illustration).

© REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

While the National Financial Prosecutor's Office has just announced that two investigations were opened at the end of October into the relationship between Emmanuel Macron and private consulting firms, several members of the government stepped up to the plate this Sunday, November 27 to try to defuse the subject.

The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire notably recognized “

abuses

” in the use of these firms.

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There has indeed been a drift in the use of private consulting firms to guide public policies, including by the current government.

Bruno Le Maire recognized it this Sunday.

But the minister swears that the bar is being straightened, taking the example of his ministry where

the use of outside advisers

has fallen by a third in one year.

The Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts also made an act of contrition.

Gabriel Attal admitted the lack of clarity and added value for certain missions entrusted to the private sector in the past.

A sign that the government is trying to "

 remove pressure from the pressure cooker

 ", judges an LFI deputy.

Another executive of rebellious France simply does not believe in ministerial promises: consulting firms remain, according to her, " 

the linchpin to dismember the state

 ".

The two ministers above all carefully avoided the angry subject, namely the suspicions that 

the justice has of illegal financing of the campaigns of Emmanuel Macron

by these cabinets and the markets which they would have obtained as a reward.

For the opposition, one certainty exists: we must legislate.

Last month, the Senate unanimously adopted a bill strictly regulating the use by the State of private firms.

What matters is what we do to respond to the abuses that have taken place over the use of outside consulting firms.

Personally, I readily admit that I think we have gone too far.

Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of Economy

RFI

►Read again: France: Emmanuel Macron reacts to the twist in the McKinsey affair

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