Radars, slaughterhouses, waste, Paris town hall... These subjects raised by the French at the Court of Auditors

What subjects will the Court of Auditors focus on in 2024? Like last year, the venerable institution has been asking Internet users in recent weeks to provide it with ideas for themes that magistrates can examine in the coming months. The “citizen platform” collected several hundred ideas in just over a month, demonstrating growing interest from individuals. Some also use it as a lobbying tool, to point the finger at activities or institutions.

As a reminder, the Court launched a “citizen consultation” last year aimed at feeding into its work program for 2023. 9,000 participants were counted, making it possible to bring together 330 proposals, according to Pierre Moscovici. Six subjects were finally selected, including the use by the State of consulting firms, inclusive schools, personal tax fraud and equality between men and women. This approach was continued this year: topics could be proposed on the platform between September 6 and October 15, and Internet users could then vote for those they preferred until October 22.

According to our information, this new vintage promises to be particularly rich: more than 600 themes have been proposed, garnering more than 29,000 supports. Figures up sharply compared to last year, despite a shorter campaign. From the consequences of the free Montpellier tramway to the effectiveness of anti-smoking policies, including the cost of "honorary decorations", the effect of the abolition of the ISF or the cost of official visits, such as that of King Charles III, the subjects put forward by the participants are varied, affecting both the local and national scale.

The authors of the proposals sometimes use flowery language to justify their suggestion. “Whether or not you share my opinion on the monarchy and religions, it is a shame not to know publicly the cost of these communications operations (because it is nothing else!), and this debauchery "luxury remains unacceptable and completely useless", vituperates for example the Internet user behind the proposal on official visits. “The Court of Auditors releases annual reports, but what does that change in the end? Nothing! One more report in the archives! When will this royalty disguised as a Republic reduce its lifestyle? France is becoming impoverished, public services are failing, where is OUR MONEY going?”, gets annoyed, for his part, another author of a track wondering “where does our tax money go”.

Reading the various contributions to the platform also allows us to see the efforts of pressure groups to serve their interests. All by mobilizing their community to obtain their support and put forward their proposal. This is how the two most widely supported ideas are defended, one by hunters, the other by well-known animal rights activists. With 2,779 supporters, the leading track, entitled “Controlling a possible abuse of tax law by ASPAS and ONE VOICE”, was submitted by the national hunters’ federation. This suggests that the Court control the balance sheets of two associations, one aiming to protect wild animals (ASPAS), the other defending animals, including in court. A way for hunters to respond to criticism, while in 2022, one of the most supported proposals suggested the Court look into the public money paid to hunter federations. A subject submitted by opponents of this sport, and to which the magistrates returned this year.

At the same time, the second most popular proposal this year was submitted by Brigitte Gothière, founder and spokesperson for the L214 association, famous for having published, on several occasions, videos revealing the poor living conditions of animals. in slaughterhouses. Remaining in this same area, the activist recommends controlling “killing conditions in slaughterhouses”. We then find numerous requests from Internet users pushing to check waste collection in different territories, or a call from the 40 million motorists association to check the consequences of “outsourcing the driving of cars equipped with 'an on-board radar'. Among the other avenues put forward, environmental activists call for looking at “reckless public spending” in the Gonesse triangle, where the Europacity project has caused a lot of ink to flow, and Taxpayers Associated urges, for its part, to look in particular at the deficit of the State, “pension fraud paid abroad”, or even the budget of the city of Paris.

The Court is therefore also used as a tool, for these different organizations, to put forward their causes. It remains to be seen which avenues will ultimately be retained by the magistrates: if the popularity of the themes plays a role in the decision, other elements, such as the originality of the subject, its interest or the existence of data on which press, are also taken into account. Verdict in early 2024, for publication of the reports expected during the year.