Bercy : When Macron was spending 120 000 euros in 8 months for his meals in good company – Atlantico.fr

The advisers of the minister are gathered for the last time. An overwhelming majority of men, a few of which, for the occasion, dropped the tie. The seventh floor of the hotel of the ministers, in the living-Michel-D ebré, they discuss in a low voice. The vast room full of woodwork hosts the biggest press conferences of the ministry. This August 30, 2016, Emmanuel Macron, minister of the Economy, officially announcing his resignation from the government. In front of him, on a wall, a tapestry of the Goblins, who asked ten years of work.

The young ex-minister, he remained less than two years in the walls. The time to shape his popularity, strengthen its networks, and acquire the experience of the State, in short, to prepare the offensive, in the comfort of a powerful ministry. “Today, I want to start a new stage of my fight [...]. I am determined to do everything to ensure that our values, our ideas, our action, to transform France as soon as next year, ” says the young wolf in front of journalists, before leaving by a back door, at the back of the room. This door leads to an elevator secret, which allows the minister to descend into his apartment. But Emmanuel Macron has used Bercy to climb. Like many before him, he turned it into a launching pad for his political career. “Last year, he lifted the foot (1),” sighs before us Michel Sapin, the minister of Finance.

Emmanuel Macron was receiving round-arm the influential figures in his office on the third floor. Including hierarchs, religious, philosophers, heads of associations, all worthy, but who had not much to do with the official duties of the minister of economy, industry and digital. Example : the political scientist Stéphane Rozès, consulted for two hours on a Saturday morning, to discuss ” the political imaginary of the French “. At Bercy, Emmanuel Macron also gathers his ” informal group “, as recounted in the journalist Marc Endeweld : “The writer and former adviser to François Mitterrand, Erik Orsenna, a former member of the commission Attali, in part, as the

journalist of the Echoes, Eric Le Boucher, [...] or the philosopher Olivier Mongin, Esprit magazine, or even the communicating Gilles Finchelstein, that details of the opinion polls carried out for the occasion (2)… “” He multiplied the dinners, sometimes two per night, R 21; says another member of the government installed in Bercy. According to our information, in 2016, Emmanuel Macron has used him only 80 % of the total annual costs of representation granted to the department by the Budget. In just eight months, until his resignation in August. “If it had remained, one knows not how he would have finished the year,” said an administrative source. The total annual costs of representation of the ministry of the Economy exceeds one hundred and fifty thousand euros, or less than one hundred and twenty thousand euros used in eight months by the young minister for its own lunches and dinners in good company. “Yet, here, there are plenty of. In the morning and in the evening ! ” growls Michel Sapin. He got wind of these meals by the bailiffs and drivers of Bercy. In the walls of the ministry, Emmanuel Macron has also received hundreds of” friends ” on Facebook. Twice, he arranged with them of evenings of discussion, in the conference centre Pierre Mendes-F rance, in the heart of Bercy. “I’m not a pro of the policy. I have my trajectory, ” explained the minister to his guests. But, I’ve always had a frustration of not being able to see enough normal people (3). “