“I readily admit it, I think we’ve gone too far.” The Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, recognized this Sunday the France 3 a “drift” and an “abuse” by the “government and precedents”, regarding the use of consulting firms.
Unpublished statements by a member of the Executive on this case when two judicial investigations were opened by the courts into the intervention of these firms in the electoral campaigns of Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and 2022, to prove if they were not unduly favored in the award. . of public contracts.
Bruno Le Maire surprised like this, including his teammates. “He hit hard. It seems difficult to imagine that he did it without permission… But the reality is that once again Bruno played his personal card,” said a minister.
“He wants to play the white knight, distance himself from these practices. But the word ‘abuse’ is too strong, it gives the impression that we have acted badly”, judged an advisor to the executive severely.
Bruno Le Maire’s entourage fully embraces the minister’s words this Sunday: “Consultants, we have used them a lot, like other governments, for ease. It is useful, sometimes necessary, but it can also be appealed.” to the administration”.
Bercy reminds us, former Prime Minister Jean Castex made a similar observation last year, setting a goal of reducing the use of these signatures by 15%. The Ministry of Economy and Finance has wanted to go further, and anticipate a fall of 34%.
Olivier Véran’s position would not be insignificant
This Monday morning, the government spokesman, Olivier Véran, publicly distanced himself from Bruno Le Maire’s expression. “I don’t know what drift or abuse is…”, the former Health Minister told France Inter.
“Véran is in a particular situation”, we explained in Bercy, he used a lot (consultants, editor’s note) due to the health situation, to manage vaccines, masks…”
This little setback illustrates a more amazing reality. According to our information, no instructions or language were transmitted to the government following the disclosure of suspicions about Emmanuel Macron’s campaign accounts. “After the president’s speech in Dijon on Friday, we should have told ourselves: the line to follow is only this!” laments a minister’s adviser.
To the journalists who questioned him at the end of last week, Emmanuel Macron had estimated that he was not at the center of the investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office. And he had considered it “normal” for justice to do his job.
Source: BFM TV
