"Remove state agencies will save money"

Faced with a raised public deficit, the government wants to tighten the screw. The Minister responsible for public accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, promises to delete or merge a third of the state agencies by the end of the year. But this measure, still blurred in its contours, raises doubts about its real effectiveness.

To stem the public deficit Growing up (5.8 % in 2024), the Minister responsible for public accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, promised on April 27 to merge or remove by the end of the year a third of the operators and agencies of the State, without specifying which ones. It evokes “2 to 3 billion savings” – without detailing the calendar.
Appeared in the 1960s, The purpose of these organizations is to fulfill a specific and temporary need. Such as the National Agency for Urban Renovation, born in 2003 with a view to the rehabilitation of difficult neighborhoods. Certains have already been removed: their number increased from 649 in 2008 to 434 today. But the credits allocated to them tripled during the same period (77 billion euros in 2023). Hence a first limit: reducing their number does not necessarily generate a lower costs.

The savings made will depend on the agencies concerned. Half of the workforce fall under universities and three prestigious research centers (CNRS, CEA, INRAE). Remove such institutions would harm growth in the long term, because research and innovation boost productivity and determine the future richness of a nation. The government has, moreover, announced that it would not affect universities.

Mergers can also cause hidden costs: Salary alignment, reorganization costs… Christine Lavarde, LR senator and rapporteur of a commission of inquiry into the missions of state agencies, thus recalls that administrative rapprochement can sometimes increase the invoice. And if the 3 billion hoped for by the government were achieved, this result would remain far from the needs. It would take 50 billion euros in savings this year to simply find the level of public deficit of 2023 (5.4 %).