The budget of the French presidency in 2023 has “slipped” in an unprecedented manner, mainly due to expenses related to travel, according to the Public Ethics Observatory, according to AFP and Agerpres.

Emmanuel MacronPhoto: LUDOVIC MARIN-POOL / Sipa Press / Profimedia

For the current year, this budget, “voted at the level of 114.4 million euros”, can reach “between 123 and 127 million”, emphasizes in the note the former Socialist deputy René Dozier, president of the observatory and specialist in the standard of living in the state.

He complained about the “still partial and sometimes confused” explanations from the Elysée Palace in the document sent to AFP.

Finding an increase of “between 12% and 15%” compared to the previous year, René Dossier points out that “travel costs have exploded” to 23 million instead of the 16 million predicted, according to official estimates provided as part of the 2024 spending plan .

The budget of the Elysée Palace “remains modest” in general government spending, but the “slippage in 2023” is still surprising, “unseen until now since the presidential budget has been in existence”, underlines René Dozier. While “the reorganization of the services carried out by Emmanuel Macron was aimed at more efficient and economical work”, he adds.

“Conjunctural inflationary elements” or “very intense presidential activity”

“We will have to wait” for the next report of the Accounting Chamber “to get some explanations,” writes the president of the Observatory of Public Ethics, which unites researchers and parliamentarians “in a cross-party structure.”

In the document attached to the draft budget for 2024, it is stated that a set of measures aimed at keeping the president’s expenses under control should allow to reduce expenses at the end of the year from 127.4 million euros to 122.9 million euros. .

The same document mentions “cyclical inflationary elements” that have affected the costs of the Elysée Palace, including “increasing unavoidable costs such as the price of energy”, “the consequences of wages in 2022 for the whole year” or “very intensive presidential activity “.