Criticism of the Trump administration may be very fashionable in France at the moment, but his political recipes are being emulated. Public Accounts Minister Amélie de Montchalin has announced that a third of government agencies should be merged or dissolved to reduce public spending.
Interviewed on CNews and Europe 1 on Sunday, April 27th, the minister announced that the government wants to abolish or merge one-third of the State’s agencies and operators “by the end of the year” as part of the next finance bill for 2026. The aim is not only to reduce the public deficit, but also to move towards greater administrative simplification and efficiency.
This programme is not unlike that of Elon Musk, who was appointed head of DOGE—the Department of Government Efficiency—by Donald Trump. Without obviously following in the footsteps of the American president, the minister provides some common-sense food for thought.
The finance bill for 2025 listed 434 State operators, receiving €77 billion in public funding and employing 180,000 people. With the planned restructuring, the state could generate “savings of €2 to 3 billion,” according to the minister. “Today, there are 180,000 people working in the agencies and operators. That’s more than the number of gendarmes in the country!” she exclaimed to justify this upcoming tightening. “The government is going to clean up our organisation, because the French are asking for it,” she added, while denying that she wanted to use the “chainsaw.” She explained that there were a number of levers available, such as the non-renewal of retirements and the pooling of skills.
Montchalin’s speech earned her strong criticism from the Left and the unions, who are always quick to react when it comes to cutting public sector jobs. For the Communist newspaper L’Humanité, this is no more and no less than a drastic “purge.” For the moment, no agency has been specifically targeted. The minister has made it clear that universities will not be affected by the budget cuts, but rumours are circulating about the uncertain future of agencies such as the Agence Bio, founded in 2021 to promote the organic sector. In January, French Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard commented on the relevance of “the proliferation of bodies dealing with organic farming, most of which receive government funding and some of which carry out identical missions.” Ademe, the French Environment and Energy Management Agency, is also said to be in the hot seat. The environmental transition sector is the one that consumes the most public-sector jobs.