Are senior French civil servants ready to serve the National Rally? – POLICY

“If we have a Trump or Milei project, few people will give us their support,” theorizes an official from the general management of the Treasury, who benefited from anonymity to express himself frankly like others interviewed for this article. But “if this is Meloni’s scenario, some will come out of the woods and help.”

The few senior officials who rallied the party to the flame, however, are trying to reassure. Former prefect Christophe Bay, RN candidate for the legislative elections in Eure-et-Loir, dismisses the idea of ​​a “waste system”, in which the arrival of a new power changes the heads of administration.

“We will absolutely not carry out a witch hunt in the senior civil service,” the former campaign director of Marine Le Pen’s 2022 presidential campaign told Acteurs publique.

Waves of resignations in sight?

If senior officials were tempted to resign, not everyone would be in the same boat. The members of the Council of State and the Court of Auditors, who are particularly protected, could reintegrate without difficulty into their original bodies, since reintegration is done by law.

“There will be a separation between those who have a body in which they can repatriate quickly and the others,” predicts a state advisor. “It is much easier to have a principled position when you have a host body as a rappel rope.”

Resignations “would further fuel the hatred of the RN electorate towards the elites”, estimates another state councilor, who imagines that possible departures will remain marginal.