Expenditure at the Élysée has “gone off the rails” in an unprecedented way in 2023, according to the Observatory of Public Ethics

2023-10-06 15:35:08

The budget of the Presidency of the Republic “went off the rails” in an unprecedented way in 2023. A note from the former socialist deputy René Dosière, president of the Observatory of Public Ethics, reveals that, for the current year, this budget “voted for 114.4 million euros” could reach “between 123 and 127 million”, an increase “between 12 and 15%” compared to the previous year. In this document, he deplores the “still partial and sometimes confusing” explanations from the Élysée.

René Dosière underlines that “it is travel expenses that are exploding”, at 23 million instead of the 16 planned, according to official estimates provided as part of the 2024 finance bill. “If the President must have the necessary means to its activity, which we readily admit varies depending on current events, it is important that it does so at the best cost,” it is written in this note. The unit costs of travel can generally vary greatly depending on the means of transport used and the size of the delegations, he also underlines.

The Élysée budget “remains modest” compared to all public spending, but “the slippages of the year 2023 are however astonishing, never seen since a presidential budget has existed”, estimates René Dosière, specialist in the train of life of the state. While “the reorganization of services put in place by Emmanuel Macron was aimed at more efficient and economical operation,” he adds.

“Circumstantial inflationary elements”

We “will have to wait” for the next report from the Court of Auditors “to have some explanations”, writes the president of the Public Ethics Observatory, which brings together researchers and parliamentarians “in a transpartisan framework”. In a document annexed to the 2024 finance bill, it is specified that a set of measures to control the expenses of the presidency should make it possible to “reduce the 2023 landing level” from 127.4 million euros to 122 .9 million euros.

This same document mentions “the cyclical inflationary elements” which had an impact on the expenses of the Élysée, including “the increase in unavoidable expenses such as energy prices”, “the full-year effects of salary measures 2022” or even “the very strong presidential activity”. The presidency has also faced “an increasing number of requests for price revisions in the context of its public contracts”, it is specified.