Government mine clearance operation.
This Wednesday evening, no less than two ministers, Olivier Dussopt (Budget) and Amélie de Montchalin (Transformation and Public Service) went to the front to clear up the controversy over the use, by the State, of consulting firms, and in particular McKinsey.
During a press conference which lasted more than an hour and a half, they tried to answer the many questions arising from the publication, on March 17, of a senatorial report which reveals a sharp increase in contracts for the executive with private consultants.
Ten days before the first round of the presidential election, the various opposition candidates seized on this parliamentary inquiry to attack the outgoing president.
“Emmanuel Macron and his friends are trying to shove McKinseyGate, a real state scandal,” denounces Jordan Bardella (RN).
Éric Zemmour suspects him, Emmanuel Macron "of having returned the elevator" because "the people of McKinsey worked for his electoral campaign" in 2017.
“893.9 million euros, the expenses of all ministries”
But for Amélie de Montchalin it is "rough manipulation", "misinformation", a real "poison for democratic debate".
“The whatever the cost required considerable energy from the administration, justified the minister.
And, yes, the government fully assumes that in these exceptional circumstances it had to rely on reinforcements.
The State does not skimp to protect the French”.
In total, according to the Senate investigation report, for 2021 alone, 893.9 million euros were spent by the executive to pay for the services of consulting firms, compared to 379.1 million euros in 2018. “But none received a billion euros,” insisted Amélie de Montchalin.
“This sum of 893.9 million euros is the cumulative expenditure of all the ministries”, insisted for his part Olivier Dussopt who indicated that it represented 0.3% of the payroll of the State.
In other words, a drop of water.
Especially since, as Amélie de Montchalin recalled, referring to the Senate report: "It is four times more in the United Kingdom, with 1.2% (
of the payroll
), and 1.4% in Germany ".
McKinsey accounted for 5% of state council spending
For McKinsey, which is accused of being the firm that has benefited the most from largesse, Olivier Dussopt confided that state orders represented less than 5% of its turnover and that, in the other direction , McKinsey accounted for 5% of state board spending.
Asked that McKinsey hadn't paid corporate tax for at least ten years, and that the US company hadn't been audited for at least that many years, the budget minister s is content to invoke tax secrecy while recalling that on average, in France, a company was controlled by Bercy every twelve years.
Amélie de Montchalin, for her part, indicated that the use of consulting firms had been much more widespread between 2007 and 2011, when Nicolas Sarkozy was President of France.
To put an end to any suspicion of abandonment of sovereignty, the Minister of the Public Service hammered it several times: "No consulting firm has decided on any reform and the decision always comes back to the State", or even “We have not relinquished our responsibilities”.
Know where the skills are internally to avoid this recourse
However, the two ministers agreed that improvements were necessary.
In particular, it is planned to reduce the use of consulting firms by at least 15% this year.
Moreover, before any solicitation of an external firm, the State must henceforth ensure that it does not have the skills in-house.
In this context, a mapping of skills is being developed.
For more transparency, it is also planned that all the data on the use of consulting firms will be presented during each finance bill, in the autumn.