The controversy over the future inauguration of Budget Minister Amélie de Montchalin at the head of the Court of Auditors has highlighted the power of appointment of the President of the Republic. For journalist Michaël Moreau, author of an investigative book on the subject, Emmanuel Macron is "the president of the Fifth Republic who is most involved" in castings for key state positions.

Published on: 02/14/2026 - 1:52 p.m.

The Budget Minister giving an opinion on her own budget in a few months as president of the Court of Auditors: this is the situation that France will soon experience, after Emmanuel Macron's decision, Wednesday February 11, to replace Pierre Moscovici at the head of the institution on rue Cambon with Amélie de Montchalin.

Although the opposition strongly protested against this decision, the President of the Republic did not reconsider his choice, he who pays particular attention to this prerogative, according to journalist Michaël Moreau, who has just published "Sa Majesté nomme" (Robert Laffont, 2026).

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The power of appointment of the head of state is enshrined in the Constitution of the Fifth Republic. According to article 13, "the President of the Republic signs the orders and decrees deliberated in the Council of Ministers", "appoints to civil and military posts of the State" and also "the State Councilors, the Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor, the ambassadors and extraordinary envoys, the master advisers to the Court of Auditors, the prefects, the representatives of the State in the overseas communities governed by Article 74 and in New Caledonia, general officers, rectors of academies, directors of central administrations.

To this list are added thousands of other positions, the exact number of which is known neither to the Élysée nor to Matignon, according to Michaël Moreau, whose own estimate is around 5,000 appointments made by the President of the Republic.

France 24: Emmanuel Macron has just appointed Amélie de Montchalin as head of the Court of Auditors. A Budget Minister who will have to give an opinion on her own budget, have we ever experienced such a situation?

Michaël Moreau: This is unprecedented under the Fifth Republic. Former ministers, including those of the Economy, have already taken the helm of the Court of Auditors. This was particularly the case for Pierre Moscovici, but six years had passed between his departure from Bercy and his arrival at Rue Cambon. This is also not the first time that a president has appointed someone close to him to this position. In 1993, François Mitterrand appointed Pierre Joxe and in 2004, Jacques Chirac chose Philippe Séguin. However, it is one of Emmanuel Macron's appointments which transgresses the most, because Amélie de Montchalin combines her proximity to the Head of State and her position as Minister of the Budget.

It is a power appreciated by the Presidents of the Republic which was put in place by General de Gaulle, who ensured from the start that the Head of State had more control than the Prime Minister over many appointments. And this power subsequently extended throughout the Fifth Republic. In the summer of 1985, in particular, François Mitterrand, who knew that he was a few months away from an announced defeat in the legislative elections, passed a decree which increased the number of appointments dependent on the President of the Republic, particularly in the field of culture.

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Is the power of the President of the Republic in matters of appointment unlimited?

There are some safeguards. Since 2008, a few dozen positions have in theory been submitted to parliamentarians, which makes it possible to avoid eccentric appointments. But in practice this remains very difficult, because at least three-fifths of the votes cast within the two commissions must be gathered. Only one appointment has been rejected by this process in history: in 2023, that of Boris Ravignon at the head of Ademe (Ecological Transition Agency, Editor's note), for political reasons, a few weeks after the use of 49.3 to pass the pension reform. And this almost happened again with another controversial appointment of Emmanuel Macron: in 2025, only one vote was missing for Parliament to reject the appointment of Richard Ferrand as president of the Constitutional Council.

Finally, the creation of the HATVP (High Authority for Transparency in Public Life, Editor's note) in 2013 made it possible to track conflicts of interest in certain positions.

Is Emmanuel Macron different from his predecessors in his practice of the power of appointment?

It is the President of the Fifth Republic who is most involved in appointments. He does the castings himself, completely confidently. From 2017, he received central administration directors to provide them with a roadmap and be sure that they were in line with his policy. All the candidates say that he asks very specific questions, that he knows the files. And they all come out convinced that they are going to be nominated. But behind it, Emmanuel Macron takes a long time to choose. He does not always respect deadlines, which leads to temporary work, power vacancies or uncomfortable situations, such as that of Catherine Pgard, at the head of the Palace of Versailles from 2011 to 2024, who had exceeded the legal duration of occupation of the position.

This power of appointment, which makes it possible to make and break careers, is a power over people, a power of domination which causes a court phenomenon. Jacques Chirac spoke in 1995 of a "monarchical drift", without however restricting this power.

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The “end of reign” of the Presidents of the Republic is also a key period for appointments…

In the Fifth Republic, all the ends of the reign gave rise to resettlement. In 2012, Nicolas Sarkozy wanted to appoint, in the middle of the presidential campaign, the secretary general of the Élysée, Xavier Musca, as head of the Caisse des Dépôts. Faced with the controversy, he was forced to freeze this nomination and all other sensitive nominations until the election.

There is a good chance that Emmanuel Macron will also seek to place those close to him, which he has already done in the past by appointing former ministers to the Constitutional Council (Jacques Mézard in February 2019 and Jacqueline Gourault in March 2022, Editor's note), Christophe Castaner at the large seaport of Marseille and the Mont-Blanc tunnel in 2022, or even the same year Amélie de Montchalin – already – as France's ambassador to the OECD (the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Editor's note). In the coming months, the President of the Republic will have to appoint the vice-president of the Council of State, the governor of the Bank of France, the Defender of Rights, but also make a choice on the future of the Louvre museum or that of the Arab World Institute. All these appointments will be sensitive and particularly scrutinized.

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