It is customary in politics to criticise the partisan nature of any executive. Accusations of putting the state at the service of a clique, denunciations of a »witch-hunt« or, conversely, the promotion of the »impartiality of the state’—all of this is fairly standard politics.
Emmanuel Macron, for his part, introduced something new. Creator of a movement without an ideological corpus and bringing together figures from diverse backgrounds (not to mention opportunists from both sides), it is not only his political friends but also his fellow alumni from the ENA who are going to get a rapid promotion (as military jargon goes to describe someone who experiences an unusual advancement for no objective reason) to quite unlikely positions given their age and (inex)perience.
The singularly ill-named «Léopold Sédar Senghor» intake» extremely politicised and pushing the process of the social reproduction of elites to its zenith, it has penetrated the State at an unprecedented level. Certain emblematic examples of this unbridled cronyism illustrate this drift, and the least one can say is that this entryism is not an unqualified success:
Let's start with Amélie Oudéa-Castéra who found herself for a time both Minister of National Education and Sports before her gaffe regarding state education put her in the crosshairs of teachers, parent-teacher associations and, generally, everyone committed to state education. Against all odds, she was not forced to resign, but merely saw her ministerial portfolio return to its original configuration. Emmanuel Macron would not abandon his fellow alumni.
Emmanuel Macron hating diplomats, it is not to the most experienced among them that he will appeal, but to his fellow alumni from the ENA.
- Franck Paris, head of the Africa cell for six years at the Élysée Palace, was a stakeholder in France's decline in Africa and its forced departure from the Sahel region under inglorious conditions. Having never been posted to Africa, nor even served as an ambassador anywhere, he quickly gained a reputation as a man «who knows Brussels better than Africa». Indeed, he spent five years posted in Belgium. It is worth remembering that Jacques Chirac appointed diplomats as experienced as Michel Dupuch and Michel de Bonnecorse to this same position, and that Nicolas Sarkozy chose André Parant, who had been an ambassador on multiple occasions. Many diplomats had the ideal profile: having served as ambassadors in Africa several times, mastering the subject and aware that African public opinions were becoming very hostile towards France. But they had the immense disadvantage of not belonging to the Léopold Sédar Senghor cohort.
- Still in diplomacy, the choice of Luis Vassy as Catherine Colonna's Chief of Staff raises questions. Appointed at 42, when the tradition is to appoint a highly experienced and seasoned diplomat, he had been ambassador to the Netherlands for two years prior to taking up his post. A bit brief for such an eminent position? From there to thinking he was appointed to «keep an eye on» Catherine Colonna, leave her no room for manoeuvre, and report back to his fellow-president, is but a short step…. Luis Vassy, once tipped to become diplomatic adviser to the President of the Republic, is now given the arduous task of supervising a «novice» minister, Stéphane Séjourné. Neither of them was able to answer the question about French weapons supplied or not supplied to Israel before the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee on 14 February.
- To conclude with the Macronist diplomats from the Léopold Sédar Senghor promotion, we find Xavier Chatel. Appointed Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates in 2020 at an age and rank that did not predispose him to it, he was credited with the idea that took the form of Emmanuel Macron's huge diplomatic blunder regarding «the establishment of an anti-Hamas force along the lines of the anti-Daesh one». Perhaps this is unfair? A pseudo-philosopher may have had a hand in it...
It would be improper to forget Charline Avenel who served as rector of the Academy of Versailles between 2018 and 2023. Emmanuel issued a decree on 24 October 2018 to enable her to take up this post by relaxing the conditions. She was placed directly at the head of France's largest academy. Criticised in connection with the murder of Samuel Paty, she allegedly delayed granting the teacher's request for protection and was even preparing to reprimand him severely. Also criticised for her lack of reaction regarding the bullying of a teenager who eventually committed suicide, she went as far as threatening the parents with legal action for «slanderous denunciation» against the secondary school. She demonstrated her keen taste for public service by subsequently moving to the private sector, in what is known as a «revolving-door» move.
Finally, today's news is the resignation of Mathias Vicherat of his position as Director of Sciences Po, following his referral to the criminal court for a domestic violence case. A fellow alumnus of Emmanuel Macron within that famous graduating class, appointed at the age of 43, the person in question had unexpectedly won despite his background (Chief of Staff to the male then female Mayor of Paris, SNCF, the private sector), which in no way predisposed him to hold this position usually reserved for an academic.
The «bombarded» members of the Léopold Sédar Senghor promotion therefore have a to say the least mixed record which, naturally, cannot in any way cast aspersions (or clean water, to be confirmed with Sarah El Haïry) on the vast majority of this cohort which also includes political opponents of the President of the Republic, Julien Aubert in particular.
What if we went back to the simple criteria of experience and competence? In short, the republican principles of meritocracy...
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