Prime Minister of France Emmanuel Macron The French elite university École Nationale d’Administration or Ena is closing for a short time, it was announced Thursday. The Institute of Public Service (ISP) should replace the elite cadre.
Those around the president said the aim of the reform was to make the civil service in France “more efficient, transparent and more benevolent.” Additionally, more young people from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds will be employed in public service. Macron complained earlier this year, “the social elevator” works “less well today than it did 50 years ago.”
Macron came up with the idea to shut down Ena two years ago. In April 2019, protesters from the Yellow Vest movement denounced the country’s elite formation – and INA has always been an important building block. It was founded in October 1945 before Charles de GaulleFor decades, the school has produced government officials, businessmen, ministers, and presidents.
Macron himself graduated from management school 17 years ago. Even past presidents Valerie Giscard d’EstaingAnd Jacques Chirac And Francois Holland They are the so-called enarchs. Those who made it to the school belonged to a network of some of the most important figures in French society. The Financial Times once referred to these links Even incest.
For those who passed the selection test, a pathway to the most important offices in the state is programmed. Usually only those who were able to participate in special preparatory courses were able to do so: especially children from privileged homes, girls and sons from well-to-do families.
Critics have long complained that elites have remained so among themselves and that children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds or even graduates of other universities have little chance of being accepted into INA and receiving high-ranking positions in the state apparatus.