McKinsey and Macron: What's real and what's fake
The name McKinsey, once unknown to the public, has rapidly made its way into French political debate. In January 2021, when the government called on this American firm to assist with its Covid-19 vaccination policy, controversy erupted.
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Did Macron "favour" McKinsey?
The question of general interest is this: although McKinsey played no official role in Macron's 2017 presidential campaign, it is nevertheless known that several McKinsey consultants participated in a personal capacity.
The Cour des Comptes report on the 2021 affair repeatedly mentions McKinsey, which was particularly favored by the state in 2021. Nevertheless, the judges do not question the quality of the work carried out during the Covid-19 health crisis. In addition, the consultants were involved in very specific subjects such as vaccination, testing, the health pass, and even scenarios for the resumption of public transport after containment.
Finally, McKinsey's influence in the public sphere is not limited to the French President's current term of office. In fact, the American firm has been involved on several occasions in assignments for the French government. What's more, McKinsey accounts for just 1% of the French government's consulting spending between 2018 and 2020, far behind Capgemini (5%) and Eurogroup (10%), according to the Senate's calculations, which are based on fragmented data.
Is Emmanuel Macron close to McKinsey?
Numerous links exist between the president and the consulting firm McKinsey, as already revealed in an investigation by Le Monde in February 2021. In this report, we can read that after Macron's victory, some of McKinsey's consultants, joined positions of influence within the Macronie. Ariane Komorn thus left the American firm, where she had worked since 2014, to become head of the engagement division of La République en marche, in June 2017.
What's more, the American group was involved in several major projects during the last quinquennium. According to Le Monde's research, McKinsey carried out at least forty assignments for the government, presidency or government agencies between 2018 and 2021, at an estimated cost of between 28 and 50 million euros. The firm also stepped up its activities during the Covid-19 pandemic, at a cost of at least 13 million euros.
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Cour des Comptes report on consulting firms
The Cour des Comptes' latest report on the use of private consulting firms by the State was published on Monday, July 10, 2023. The report is the result of a consultation carried out by the institution with French citizens in the spring of 2022, which identified six subjects that the Court undertook to investigate at the public's request.
In this report, the Cour des Comptes accuses the French government of allowing private service providers to carry out missions that fall within the administration's "core business". According to the Rue Cambon institution, this outsourcing is a costly "easy" solution. 233.6 million in 2021, but this represents only 0.04% of the State's annual expenditure, well below that of most comparable countries, notably Germany and the UK.
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