blog: madic50.blogspot.com / Book: The
Two Forms, ed. Amazon
Paris, Sunday February 16, 2020
CONTRIBUTION (40) TO THE NATIONAL
DEBATE WANTED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC IN 2020.
REFLECTION ON COMPENSATION (38) AND
INCOHERENCES IN THE LOGIC OF REMUNERATION OF FORMER PRESIDENTS OF THE
REPUBLIC AND ON THE POSSIBILITY OF REMEDYING IT.
(Continuation of reflection n ° 37 of
January 29, 2020 and previous ones. Cf.: madic50.blogspot.com)
PROPOSAL FOR A RESETTING OF THE
REMUNERATION OF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS (1) INCLUDING FORMER PRESIDENTS OF THE
REPUBLIC.
1. Preamble
On Sunday February 16, 2020, a
television channel released a documentary on the role of Nicolas
Sarkozy after he left the office of President of the Republic.
Three aspects of this documentary
concern my reflection on the compensation of French executives.
1- Financing the administrative train
Regardless of salary pensions; the
Republic pays an average of 800,000 euros to each of the retired
Presidents to maintain their standard of living as a manager
(security police, driver, car, local, secretary, etc.).
2- The rods
a- Mr. Sarkozy freelances for 100,000
euros the speech.
b- On January 11, 2019, François
Hollande created a company to charge for his conferences, when he
criticized Nicolas Sarkozy on this point and that he had promised to
carry out these exercises on a voluntary basis after his departure
from the Élysée Palace.
3- The Boards of Directors (CA)
The law provides that former presidents
may be members of five CAs.
Mr. Sarkozy is a member of three CAs.
Mr. Hollande must consider this
participation incompatible with his political aspirations as a
Socialist.
Be that as it may, his reversal in the
remuneration of conferences and the creation of a company for the
purpose of organizing their payment indicates that it is not a
question of opposition in principle to participation in the capital
of a capitalist enterprise.
2) - Reflection
1- The cost
The Presidents therefore establish that
the exercise of their level of function cannot be organized below a
certain cost.
They make up for this cost
a- In the form of benefits in kind
provided by the State,
b- By financial services resulting from
the profitability of the knowledge of Power,
c- By putting the Presidential level
Address Book at the service of private management networks,
2- Network requirements
a- This cost is not fixed by the sole
will of the beneficiaries. It is much more so because of the
representation requirements of networks of executives of
international level.
Wealth or at least financial affluence
have become the discriminating criteria in networks of international
managers.
If only by the availability of people.
b- These paid services therefore do not
only finance their lifestyle. They allow them to have an
international activity and to stay in the circuits of relations of
world leaders.
c- Even partially, this cost is
recognized by the State. It would not finance such an administrative
framework if it was not aware of its usefulness.
3) - The current logic
The current logic of remuneration of
retired Presidents of the Republic creates an unbalanced situation
and transforms the beneficiaries into capitalist rentier officials.
What may seem strange from people who
declare themselves all liberal.
The growing public incomprehension with
regard to this confusion is marked by an increasingly open criticism
of the assumption by the Budget of the cost of the maintenance of the
administrative train of the former Presidents.
Indeed, they affect both the Budget and
the private sector; hence the discomfort.
Interested parties and the state would
benefit from clarifying this status.
4) - Clarification
1- The requirements
To clarify this, certain requirements
must be noted:
a- It is not in the interest of the
State that the former Presidents can no longer maintain a public
role; national and international.
b- This role has a cost.
c- The incomes of former Presidents
must be completely independent of the State Budget. They must no
longer burden the latter.
d- The formation of these revenues must
not be a spoiler of the state budget.
2- Freedom
Thus, whether they enrich themselves or
remain in the public service, the former Presidents:
a- They would not need to freeze and
compromise or use their authority for the sole purpose of having the
financial capacity to move in the world of executives of
international level which is theirs; one where they can be useful.
b- They would benefit from a sufficient
financial situation for this purpose.
c- They would have their hands free
vis-à-vis a State of which they would no longer be the civil
servants by an annuity now disputed.
d- The State would also be independent
of them and the services rendered.
In the words of Mr. Sarkozy, they could
"be reborn".
5) - Conclusion
This reconfiguration of the
remuneration of former Presidents also concerns the financial status
of senior executives in the public sector in a globalized world, as
well as that of salaried CEOs of multinational companies; as the
adventure of Mr. Ghosn gives the example.
Whether these multiple issues are dealt
with together or separately is not the main issue of the debate.
The priority is that these questions
are discussed and their solutions implemented.
It is indeed certain that the current
confusion participates in the division of the French and the
disqualification of the executives executives.
Marc SALOMONE
