The tricolor presidential desk swore a little in the middle of the tapestries and woodwork of the Cambon palace where the Court of Auditors sits. On Monday morning, the bicentennial institution received the head of state on the occasion of his very formal solemn rehearsal hearing. Coquetterie old lady wanting to please the young President of the Republic, the Court of Auditors was keen to show that she too had taken the turn of the "new world". Without having to change the fundamentals of his speech on the control of public spending and the adaptation of the state to the digital revolution, themes also dear to the head of state.

Emmanuel Macron was given a lesson many times repeated between the walls of the Palais Cambon, the first president of the Court of Accounts, Didier Migaud, receiving indeed his third president in exercise. "In terms of public finances, I am aware of the fact that the message of the Court, as the round trips of Sisyphus, may seem repetitive," was almost amused the high magistrate, legally irremovable. Before warning: the Court of Auditors will do its work "without alarm, but without complacency, that is to say without trembling".

The former socialist deputy, appointed in February 2010 by Nicolas Sarkozy after the death of Philippe Séguin, gave his advice to the young president. "Too often in the past, the cicada has overtaken the ant," he regretted. Worse, when the rulers attack the public expenditure, "the technique of the plane continues to take the place of alpha and omega of the budgetary control". With the few results We know that France has not presented a balanced budget since 1974.

In response, Emmanuel Macron wanted to be a good student. He recalled aiming "60 billion euros in savings" over the five-year period, a drop of three percentage points of GDP. "Every citizen has a keen awareness that public money is also his money," he acknowledged before developing his vision of public finance reform. "We created public spending because we wanted to settle injustices, if not to resolve the causes of these injustices," he said. He promised to tackle the root causes of French evils to reduce public spending. And to list the three areas where the government has already initiated reforms: vocational training, employment and housing.

Corollary of these changes of substance, their effects will take time to translate into savings, longer in any case than for the policy of the plane, slipped the president. Didier Migaud, for whom the government's savings "must be strengthened and become a reality," must therefore be patient, said Emmanuel Macron. Especially since resistance to change will be numerous. "On each of these topics, we have become accustomed to the inefficiency of public spending," denounced the head of state.

A "pennant reform"

The head of state also promised that the mother of all reforms, that of the civil service, will be committed as early as February, or even as early as next week. Ministerial source, Matignon indeed wants to present a "pennant reform" on February 1, at the next interdepartmental committee dedicated to "Public Action 2022". This major state reform package, which will not only affect civil servants but also state action, is expected to generate 4.5 billion euros in savings per year from 2020.

In the meantime, Emmanuel Macron set Monday the main principles of future measures in the public service: make the administration, starting with the senior officials, "more deconcentrated" and "more empowered". The Head of State, however, kept recalling his goal to remove 120,000 positions of public servants in the three public offices (State, communities and hospital). Only 1,600, in the only sphere of the State, were programmed in finance law for this year.

Young Enarchs for State Priorities

The President of the Republic announced Monday before the Court of Auditors that he wanted to review the course of early career graduates of the National School of Administration (ENA). "I hope that the exit of the ENA can be modified to take into account government priorities," he explained. We need young talent to renovate housing and social affairs policy. "These passages in reforming ministries would be temporary, the head of state said in military terms:" We must profoundly change these beginnings career by knowing how to value these campaigns - because yes we are leading a form of war against softness and languor "in the senior civil service. Today, the top 15 in the ENA's league table start in the large state bodies, namely the Inspectorate of Finance, the State Council and the Court of Auditors. At least twice since 2010, governments have tried to reform this system. In vain.