An interim director-general of the Caisse des dépôts will be appointed before the end of the week, learned Tuesday, the Reuters news agency from the presidency of the Republic, while the information of the press reported the imminent departure of the present head of the CDC, Pierre-René Lemas.
The Elysée palace has not given any information about the person who will ensure the interim. According to The Journal du Dimanche, Pierre-René Lemas could assure himself this function.
66-year-old, Pierre-René Lemas, a former secretary general of the Elysee under the presidency of François Hollande appointed in 2014 to the head of the CDC, where he has replaced his successor at the Elysee Jean-Pierre Jouyet, wanted to go to the end of his term of five years, in 2019, although it reaches the age of retirement under the corps préfectoral from which it is derived. This chassé-croisé between these two relatives of the former president, from him as the “promotion Voltaire” of the national School of administration (Ena), had been criticized by the opposition and some unions of the CDC.
“I’m an old prefect, but not necessarily an old director general of the Caisse des dépôts, so I hope to continue until the end of my mandate in 2019 ; after that, we’ll see what will decide the [next] president of the Republic,” he had said at the microphone of Radio Classic on 30 march, on the occasion of the annual results of the CDC.
Asked by Reuters, the Caisse des dépôts has not made comment but has stated that”a communication shall be made in a timely fashion”.
A key position with several potential successors
The appointment of the director general of the Caisse des dépôts, is a prerogative of the president of the Republic. The Senate and the national Assembly may, nevertheless, put their veto, but that requires a vote with a majority of three-fifths of the vote.
Manager including the Booklet, reference shareholder of large companies as well as CNP Assurances, or Icade , Caisse des dépôts group, which contributes to the budget of the State, plays a strategic role in many public policies, such as housing or land-use planning.
Many personalities have been mentioned in the press in recent months for a successor to Pierre-René Lemas, such as the general director of Bpifrance Nicolas Dufourcq, or Ramon Fernandez, former director general of the Treasury and current chief financial officer of the telecom operator Orange.
