Cazeneuve, Philippe, de Villepin… Which former Prime Ministers cost the State the most?

There are 11 former Prime Ministers, and the personnel placed at their disposal has a cost for the State. In the middle of the debate on the 2025 budget, a parliamentary report points to the increase in expenses linked to former heads of government. Company vehicle, driver, private secretaries… These jumped in 2023 by 11%, for a total amount of 1.42 million euros.

In detail, this cost for the State represents 200,000 euros per year for Bernard Cazeneuve and Dominique de Villepin, 167,000 euros for Jean-Pierre Raffarin, or even 162,000 euros for Lionel Jospin. At the bottom of the ranking, Jean Castex, CEO of RATP, spent only 3,600 euros. The socialist Jean-Marc Ayrault used nearly 80,000 euros, just like Alain Juppé.

The amount spent by Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande in 2023

LR MP Marie-Christine Dalloz, author of the report, calls for limiting this spending over time. “I believe that these provisions must be limited over time to people who have had important functions, but after 10 years, they are no longer in office normally,” she emphasizes to Europe 1. In her notably, Édith Cresson who left Matignon in 1992, and who will have cost more than 150,000 euros in 2023.

It should be noted that two former Prime Ministers do not receive this envelope: Laurent Fabius, president of the Constitutional Council, and Édouard Philippe, mayor of Le Havre. These two personalities already have a secretariat or a company vehicle for the exercise of their mandate.

Furthermore, the former Presidents of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande reached 1.3 million euros in spending in 2023, a figure down 5.4% in one year.