The Minister of Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, will become on February 23 the first woman to head the Court of Auditors. Her appointment is strongly criticized by the opposition, in particular because Amélie de Montchalin will be required to rule on the public deficit and the budgetary choices of the government of which she is currently a part.
Published on: 02/11/2026 - 12:27
Appointed on Wednesday February 11 as the first president of the Court of Auditors, Amélie de Montchalin will become on February 23 the first woman to head this more than two hundred-year-old institution.
The choice of Amélie de Montchalin, current Minister of Public Accounts, announced by government spokesperson Maud Bregeon at the end of the Council of Ministers, was strongly criticized by the oppositions, from La France insoumise (LFI) to the National Rally (RN), because she will be required to rule on the public deficit and the budgetary choices of the government of which she will have been a part.
But, for Maud Bregeon, this appointment "does not pose a conflict of interest" because "the organization inherent to the Court of Auditors, the fact that it is based in particular on collegial decisions, establishes its independence".
“Amélie de Montchalin has all the skills to carry out this mission. It is an appointment which follows what she demonstrated during the parliamentary debates. It is not unusual to have a political leader in this position, and we assume the responsibility of appointing a political leader,” she defended.
See alsoMelanie Vogel (Les Écologues): “Amélie de Montchalin will be in a permanent conflict of interest”
Pure product of macronism
Unlike other prestigious positions, this appointment does not require approval by Parliament's finance committees. But since the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012), the first presidents of the Court of Auditors were systematically selected from the opposition.
“How could the current minister give a credible opinion on the budget that she herself prepared?” asked the LFI president of the Assembly's finance committee, Éric Coquerel, who argued with her for months on the 2026 finance law.
Beyond that, it is more a desire attributed to Emmanuel Macron to place those close to him at the head of the main institutions as the end of his mandate approaches that is called into question. Marine Le Pen thus accused the head of state on Wednesday of seeking to “place his faithful and disrupt the future democratic alternation”.
The oppositions also question the youth of the minister, aged 40, while her appointment is irrevocable and the age limit for leaving the post of first president of the Court of Auditors is 68 years.
A pure product of macronism, elected deputy in 2017 and propelled two years later into the second government of Édouard Philippe, before a short crossing of the desert, Amélie de Montchalin has established herself since the end of 2024 within the government team, where she was recalled by François Bayrou.
His technical skills, his repartee particularly towards the oppositions and his didactic tone over dozens of hours of debate had been praised by many parliamentarians, including those in the opposition.
With AFP
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