It is a function little known to the general public, but brought up to date by Emmanuel Macron. This Saturday, the President of the Republic announced the creation of a High Commission for Children, while many associations denounced the absence of a ministry dedicated to the subject within the new government. Before that, two other high commissions had seen the light of day under his presidency: that of Pensions and that of Planning, headed by François Bayrou, appointed to Matignon. We take stock of the contours of this position.
What is a high commission?
A high commission is an “administrative entity autonomous from other ministries, which aims to be long-lasting and embodied by a personality”, explains Benjamin Morel, lecturer in public law at the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas. “Unlike a delegate minister or a secretary of state, a high commissioner is not part of the government,” he continues. By creating a high commission, the executive therefore outsources the management of a file.
What are its means?
However, a high commission does not have decision-making power. “It can have a prospective role, as was the case with the High Commission for Planning, or a more operational role, by acting as a link between different ministries for example,” explains Benjamin Morel. According to the constitutionalist, the creation of a high commission is above all “a political communication tool which makes it possible to show that an issue is important”.
The financial resources of a high commission depend on its field of action. In this case, the finance bill for the year 2025 provides an envelope of 400 million euros for the protection and support of children.
A practice widely used under the Third Republic, before being put aside
Several high commissioners were appointed under the Third Republic, in particular because this period was marked “by a profound transformation of the State which required certain issues to be externalized,” notes Benjamin Morel.
The practice was then put aside under the Fourth Republic, since “the welfare state made it possible to internalize the management of certain themes”, adds the author of the work “Parliament, temple of the Republic”.
The function was timidly reborn under the Fifth Republic with a High Commission for Youth and Sports being created under the presidency of Charles de Gaulle. More than fifty years later, in 2007, the government of François Fillon welcomed a high commission for active solidarity against poverty.
Emmanuel Macron, for his part, appointed two high commissioners before the High Commission for Children: Jean-Paul Delevoye was appointed High Commissioner for Pensions, within the government of Edouard Philippe, in 2019; and François Bayrou is appointed High Commissioner for Planning in 2020. The identity of the future High Commissioner for Children is not yet known.
