Economics and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire acknowledged this Sunday that there had been “abuses” in the past in the ministries’ significant use of consulting firms such as McKinsey, considering the habit “corrected” today.
The courts have launched two investigations into consulting firms’ interference in Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 and 2022 election campaigns to try to find out whether they have received improper funding benefits in exchange for government contracts. “I do not comment on ongoing legal proceedings,” Bruno Le Maire told France 3.
“What is important is what we are doing to address the abuse that has taken place in connection with the use of external consultants,” he added. “I readily admit that we have gone too far, over the years, this government, previous governments, the previous majority … We are probably too used to saying: The administration is not able to do this work, we will outsource and ask consulting firms “.
“Drift Corrected”
“I think there was indeed a drift, that this drift has been corrected,” in a circular by Prime Minister Elisabeth Bourne asking the government to cut the use of consulting firms by 15%, among other things. Bercy reduced the use of these companies by 34% between H1 2021 and H1 2022, he said.
“I think the same trend is seen elsewhere,” he said again of other ministries. “Of course, there were abuses. We must rely on its administration first and foremost, especially when we have an exceptional quality administration of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, to reduce the use of consulting firms.”
Asked by BFMTV about these statements, his supervising minister, Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, Gabriel Attalya, for his part, mentioned “examples that were actually given during certain missions that were carried out and which we did not quite understand. object or what he brought.”
Bruno Le Maire ruled out any political imprint that this case might leave, “as long as justice does its job, as long as we learn from abuses, and I do not believe that this is the main concern of the French.”
Source: Le Parisien
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