The French government faces strong criticism for its extensive use of private consultancies, in particular the American McKinsey, suspected of not having paid taxes in France in ten years
Ten days before the first round of the French presidential elections, the ‘McKinseygate’ threatens to cloud the final stretch of the campaign for the re-election of French President Emmanuel Macron, who will hold his first major electoral rally in Paris this Saturday.
A journalistic investigation book and a report by the French Senate recently revealed the massive recourse by the French government to private consultants to advise it on public policies, especially during the health crisis.
In the eye of the political-media hurricane is especially the American consulting firm McKinsey, suspected of not having paid taxes for ten years (between 2011 and 2020) in France thanks to “tax optimization”. According to McKinsey, which advised the French government on anti-Covid vaccination, they respected the current rules.
In mid-February, journalists Matthieu Aron and Caroline Michel-Aguirre published a book entitled “Les infiltrés” (The infiltrators, Allary publishing house), which revealed that in the last 20 years the consultancies, most of them Anglo-Saxon, “have become installed in the heart of the State. They advise the French government and its ministries in many areas, from the management of the pandemic and hospitals to the digitization of public services, passing through questions of military strategy.
A report by the Senate investigation commission, published on March 17, also denounced the “increasing” use of private consultants by the French government and its “proven influence” on public policies. The Senate regretted that the use of consultants has become “a reflection, even in the main five-year reforms” of Macron.
According to the Senate report, ministries’ spending on private consulting firms would have more than doubled, going from 379 million euros in 2018 to 894 million euros in 2021.
The Senate report had been overshadowed by the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, but in the final stretch of the electoral campaign the controversy is fueled. Macron’s rivals in the electoral campaign are tearing their hair out and are already talking about a “state scandal”, ten days before the first round of the presidential elections in France, which will take place on April 10 and 24.
Macron denounced this Thursday during an electoral displacement “the misrepresentations” that his political opponents are making of this matter. And he defended the State’s recourse to consultants for “specific” missions.
From the Government they try to play down the issue, aware that the controversy can inflame the electoral campaign and harm the image of the president, who is running for re-election after five years in power. They remember that other previous governments have also turned to consultants for advice.
“We have nothing to hide”
The opposition already hung on Macron at the beginning of his mandate the label of “president of the rich”. The “McKinseygate”, as some media in France are already calling it, could revive that image of the arrogant president and away from the problems of the French that he already has among part of the electorate.
“We have nothing to hide,” Ministers Olivier Dussopt (Budget) and Amélie de Montchalin (Transformation and Public Administrations) assured on Wednesday. “No contract is formalized in the Republic if it does not respect the rules of the public markets,” Macron said in a television interview on Sunday. “Whoever has evidence of manipulation should go to criminal proceedings,” added the candidate of La República en Marcha.
Macron starts as the clear favorite in all the polls in the first round, although the far-right Marine Le Pen closes the gap. If the two candidates qualify, as expected, for the second round, Macron would get 52.5% of the vote and Le Pen 47.5%, according to the latest Elabe poll for BFMTV and L’Express magazine.
In 2017, Macron was elected president with 66.1% of the vote, while the far-right candidate had to settle for 33.9% of the vote.
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