France went ‘too far’ in relying on consultants like McKinsey, finance chief admits

The French authorities has relied an excessive amount of on exterior consultants equivalent to U.S. agency McKinsey, French Financial system and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stated Sunday.

The assertion comes simply days after investigators in France launched probes into the position that consultancies performed within the French 2017 and 2022 elections, amid allegations of irregular marketing campaign financing and suspicions that work carried out by consultants was under-billed in contravention of France’s strict electoral legal guidelines.

Le Maire admitted that French governments in current historical past have overly relied on consultancies. “I willingly acknowledge it, and I believe that we have now gone too far,” Le Maire informed the Sunday in Politics program on TV channel France 3. “Whether or not it is this authorities, earlier governments … I believe there has certainly been a slip-up,” Le Maire stated.

POLITICO has beforehand reported how consultancies equivalent to McKinsey, Accenture, BCG, Citwell and Capgemini have come to play an enormous position in French politics, profitable billions of euros value of state contracts within the interval since Emmanuel Macron took energy. Within the run-up to his profitable re-election bid this yr, Macron took flak for his dependence on the non-public sector which accelerated in the course of the pandemic, with critics saying the development chips away at accountability and transparency, and in addition disparages the capabilities of the civil service.

France’s authorities has set itself guidelines to cut back spending on non-public sector contracts by 15 p.c throughout ministries. Paris responded to the controversy, dubbed the “McKinsey affair,” by asserting a versatile ceiling on non-public sector contracts that can kick in subsequent yr.