2023-10-12 08:19:38
There have already been consulting firms, public support for hunter federations, and even policies in favor of equality between women and men. For the second year in a row, citizens are invited, between now and Sunday October 15, to be proposed to the magistrates of the Court of Auditors ideas for controlling the use of public money.
Last year, for the launch of this citizen platform, the financial institution therefore retained an audit of the consulting firms. An explosive subject, one year after the scandal which affected the government, which was accused of massively using the services of the McKinsey firm, in particular to design the vaccination policy against Covid-19. Moreover, a legal investigation is still underway. “We have neither taboo nor censorship,” warns Pierre Moscovici, president of the Court of Auditors. On the other hand, I don’t believe in filterless. In the end, it is still us who choose the subjects. It’s not just a horse race where the first contribution to come first is chosen. »
Already more participations than last year
Thus, in addition to the popularity of the different themes put forward on the platform by citizens who wished to participate, the Court ensures that the subjects proposed are within its competence, that they have not already been treated, that they are of sufficient importance for the general interest and that they are included in the Court’s workload. “On average, a report is produced in 15 months,” explains Pierre Moscovici. But I want these citizen-initiated reports to be given priority. Also, they must be completed in eight months. »
In that on consulting firms, of 149 pages, published in July, the Court noted in particular that the State’s expenditure to use their services had tripled between 2017 and 2021. While specifying that they represented only 0 .25% of its operating budget.
This Thursday evening, the citizens’ platform already had 484 contributions compared to 333 last year and more than 16,000 participations compared to 9,000. “It’s progress, but it’s only 16,000 people,” tempers the president of the institution financial. This does not correspond to the extent of our notoriety. »
Another gap, already noted in 2022, is that contributions come mainly from civil society and in particular from associations and other federations or groups. Thus, control of the use of consulting firms by the State was pushed by Anticor, which specializes in the fight against corruption. And currently, the two contributions which attract the most support are carried by the National Hunters Federation. She suggests that magistrates look into the accounts of two animal rights associations.
Household waste collection, property tax, etc.
To mitigate these pitfalls, the Court is broadening the scope of possible audit. From this year, citizens are also invited to propose ideas for local controls which will then be carried out by the regional chambers. In third position among the most popular contributions, we find that on household waste collections in Dordogne. At the local level, the subject of property taxes also figures well, as does the use of fuel tax revenues by local authorities.
Furthermore, in a major development, the citizen platform is now open to 15-18 year olds. “To take into account the new law establishing the digital majority at 15,” explains Pierre Moscovici. But for now, only one contribution has been clearly identified as coming from minors. It comes from a high school association based in Creil, in Oise.
“The Ministry of National Education and Youth has set up My 3rd year internship, an online platform which offers middle school students the opportunity to explore more than 30,000 internship offers and discover new professions,” writes l ‘association. Despite the implementation of this system, a large majority still complete internships in local businesses, often bakeries, unrelated to their professional aspirations. » The association therefore asks magistrates to look into the effectiveness of the system.
In total, six contributions could be retained for 2023, not counting those relating to local controls. They will be added to those of the 2022 vintage whose reports are still awaiting publication: personal tax fraud (planned for November), inclusive school and medical temporary work (planned for next spring).
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