To keep our public finances in check, we will have to do more: this Thursday, June 29, the Court of Auditors again tapped the fingers of the government. If we took the statements of the last few months (the last few years too?), it’s a safe bet that the terms would be the same. The executive has certainly announced savings during the Public Finance Conference in mid-June. But not quickly enough or massively enough, according to the Sages de la rue Cambon, who have been advocating a much more brutal potion for several months.

If this advice seems to fall on deaf ears, are the 800 magistrates, even 1,800 if we add those of the regional and territorial chambers, really of any use? Fortunately, yes. The activity of these financial jurisdictions, whose total budget amounts to 232 million euros, is not limited to putting rules on the fingers of the government because of an excessive deficit or a debt. staggering. These carry out four different missions.

First of all, to control the accounts of all the entities which manage public money, whether it is the State, local authorities, public establishments, public company, security organizations social, private organizations that receive subsidies or that appeal to public generosity. Recently, the Ires (Institute for Economic and Social Research), managed by the unions, has, for example, been singled out by the magistrates.

The Court of Auditors also assesses public policies (recently the French airport network or private education under contract). It can also try and sanction public accountants if they commit offences, such as granting an unjustified financial advantage. Finally, it certifies the accounts of the State, Social Security and Parliament.

It remains to be seen whether the tens of thousands of pages of recommendations issued by the magistrates during their inspections are followed by effects… For this, we must delve into a report published last Wednesday and entitled “The follow-up of the recommendations of the financial jurisdictions” , which covers work done in 2019.

Three years later, 24% of the 810 recommendations had been fully implemented, 40% partially and 34% had not been followed. A worse result than in 2018, where the recommendations put in the trash represented only 20% of the total… For how much savings?

Impossible to know: this data is not calculated by the Sages of rue Cambon. “The main objective of the controls of the financial jurisdictions is to ensure the proper use of public funds and the quality of the service provided to citizens. From this perspective, our recommendations do not have the sole purpose of making net savings,” the Court replied.