We have all heard someone in our entourage tell us that former ministers were entitled to a pension until the end of their lives. But is this really the case? No but…
During his term of office, a minister receives 10,136 euros per month. 9623 euros for a secretary of state. A comfortable salary which stops when the minister has to leave office as was the case recently for Jean-Yves Le Drian or Jean-Michel Blanquer. When a minister leaves, he will receive 9,900 euros per month for the 3 months following his departure. An “indemnity” set up in General de Gaulle’s 1958 orders. At the time, these ordinances provided for payment of these allowances over 6 months, but a law in 2013 reduced this period. To benefit from it, no minimum duration in the ministry is necessary. The only two conditions to benefit from it are not to resume a remunerated activity during these 3 months of payment and that the former minister has made his declaration of assets and interests to the High Authority for the transparency of public life.
However, if the indemnity has not varied since the establishment of the Fifth Republic, this is not the case for the salaries of the ministers in office. In 1958, the law provided for a salary of 14,200 euros for each minister and 13,490 euros for a secretary of state. But with the law on the transparency of public life adopted in 2013, this amount was reduced by 30%. A minister received 9940 euros per month, 9443 euros for a secretary of state. Since 2021, the salaries of members of the government have increased by 200 euros.
On the other hand, concerning their advantages, the ministers lose them all when they leave the ministries, namely free public transport (trains and planes), the company car with driver available, company housing and police protection. . For the last advantage, certain ministers of sovereign ministries can ask to continue to benefit from it. This was the case of Christiane Taubira, for example, who wished to preserve her police protection several months after leaving her position at Place Vendôme at the Ministry of Justice.
A much more comfortable situation for a former Prime Minister
They are 12 former prime ministers. A large proportion of them still benefit from certain advantages made available to them by law. Edith Cresson, Edouard Balladur, Alain Juppé, Lionel Jospin, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Dominique de Villepin, François Fillon, Jean-Marc Ayrault, Manuel Valls, Bernard Cazeneuve, Edouard Philippe, Jean Castex, these former retired Prime Ministers do not perceive no fixed pension as one might imagine, but they also have a severance package. Still according to the orders of November 17, 1958 from General de Gaulle, the law provides for compensation of 14,190 euros per month for 3 months following the departure of the Prime Minister from Matignon. Thus, Jean Castex will receive this sum in June, July and August 2022 provided that he has properly drawn up his declaration of assets with the HATVP and that he does not resume a paid activity during this period.
In addition to this allowance, a former Prime Minister retains certain advantages. Thanks to the decree of October 22, 1997 signed under Jacques Chirac in cohabitation with Lionel Jospin, the former tenants of Matignon can continue to benefit from an agent for their private secretary and a car with a security guard driver. Fuel is also the responsibility of the State. These advantages are not compulsory but according to the Cleerly site, “the majority of former Prime Ministers choose to take advantage of them”.
The last modification made to these rules dates back to 2019. The decree attempts to better regulate these benefits by limiting their duration to a maximum of 10 years after the end of their functions. Benefits which they cannot benefit from if they are over 77 years old. All “related expenses” around the benefits given will no longer be borne by the state.
How much is all this costing us
Questioned in January 2020 by LREM MP Aude Bono-Vandorme, the Minister of the Interior at the time Christophe Castaner had to answer the cost that our former Prime Ministers represented for the State. In 2019, the bill amounted to 2,809,903 euros. The payroll costs 1,648,811 euros, the mission expenses (transport, accommodation, catering, fuel and tolls) amount to more than 117,000 euros, the means committed for the vehicles amount to almost 50,000 euros and the overtime of the mass salary of 985,075 euros. These expenses are justified in particular by the “republican tradition” according to Christophe Castaner. A sum that will increase over the next few years with the two now former Prime Ministers who have joined the list: Edouard Philippe and Jean Castex.