From controversy to consensus? Seven months after a heavy charge of the Senate which denounced the “dependence” of the State on consulting firms, the upper house adopted this Wednesday unanimously of the voters a law which aims to better regulate these services. However, it has yet to be placed on the agenda of the National Assembly.
A “first achievement” hailed in a press release by Éliane Assassi (CRCE group with a communist majority) and Arnaud Bazin (Les Républicains), authors in March of the very critical report on the “sprawling” nature of the missions entrusted by the State to private firms . The presidential majority group also welcomed a “quality debate”, through the voice of Senator Nicole Duranton.
In the immediate future, the communist senator and Arnaud Bazin urged the government to put the bill on the agenda of the National Assembly. “I want this text to move forward,” replied Civil Service Minister Stanislas Guerini, without specifying whether the government would include it itself in the Assembly’s program or whether it would leave the initiative to the opposition groups.
The text adopted by the upper chamber essentially provides for strengthening transparency around private consultancy services carried out for the benefit of the State and strengthening the ethical obligations of consultants who carry out missions for the public authorities. Adopted unanimously by the law commission on October 12, this text changed very little during the four hours of debate, since almost all the amendments – including the thirteen from the government – were rejected.
Communities excluded from the text
The senators thus challenged two amendments which aimed to include large local authorities such as regions or departments in the scope of the law.
“We are not going to decide hastily what will happen to the communities even though we have not heard them”, declared the centrist Françoise Gatel. “It seems essential to us that the framework also applies to local authorities” of more than 100,000 inhabitants, had estimated Stanislas Guerini for his part.
While the government wanted to penalize any breaches of ethics by consultants, the Senate stuck to the administrative fines provided for in the text issued by the law commission. Finally, it ensured, still against the opinion of the executive, that the law applies to current consulting services on the date of its promulgation.