In France, the government is responding after ten days of controversy over the state’s increasing use of private consultants, as revealed by a Senate report. The use of the American firm McKinsey has drawn strong criticism from opponents of President-candidate Emmanuel Macron, against a backdrop of accusations of cronyism and favoritism. The controversy disrupts the campaign of the Head of State, the government tried to put out the fire by urgently summoning the press, Wednesday evening March 30.
Who speaks? Two ministers or two supporters of the president-candidate? It is a balancing act in which two members of the government engaged on Wednesday evening. A government that takes the risk of breaking the silence imposed on it by the reserve period during the election campaign.
” I don’t think there are any hiccups »
The Minister for the Transformation of the public service Amélie de Montchalin justifies herself on the use of these private consulting firms, it is a question of not letting run of “ fake news “: ” We cannot allow this report to be hijacked for several days, “a billion this, a billion that”… We are very, very far from reality. We’re not here to promote our track record. We are here to answer facts. I don’t think there are any hiccups. »
Nothing to hide
We have nothing to hide, assures the Minister of Public Accounts, Olivier Dussopt, who assumes the use of private consultants and rejects any favoritism of the McKinsey cabinet by the power: “ When looking at total consultancy spending. Spending on behalf of McKinsey represents 2% of overall consulting spending. There is no relationship of dependencies or interdependencies between a firm and the French State. »
Government promise or campaign promise? The Minister undertakes in any case to reduce by at least 15% the use of external consulting services.
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