If they can retain a salary for a few months after leaving the government, they lose almost all their material benefits. Only the prime minister is better off.
Since her appointment to Matignon on Monday, Elisabeth Borne has been working, with Emmanuel Macron, to form a new government. Of the 40 ministers and secretaries of state of Jean Castex, a good part should pack their bags. For those leaving, most of the benefits they enjoyed as ministers will come to an end. Only former Prime Minister Jean Castex enjoys a more advantageous status.
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A salary for three months…
Contrary to popular belief, former ministers and secretaries of state do not receive a salary for life. On the other hand, they can receive for three months – against six months before the law on the transparency of public life of 2013 – an allowance, equivalent to the salary they received in the government. Or 9,940 euros gross per month for a minister, 9,443 euros for a secretary of state and 14,910 euros for a prime minister. Amounts that were higher before François Hollande issued a decree at the start of his five-year term in 2012 to cut them by 30%.
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But two limitations frame this remuneration. It is paid only if the Minister does not resume a remunerated activity. And he is also deprived of it if he fails to declare all or part of his assets or his interests to the High Authority for the transparency of public life (HATVP).
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…but almost no material benefits anymore
When they leave government, ministers and secretaries of state must on the other hand give up on the material advantages they enjoyed when they were still members of the executive. No more official housing, free access to first-class rail transport and the provision of a vehicle with driver.
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Only former sovereign ministers (Interior, Foreign Affairs, Justice, Defense) can be granted by Place Beauvau, on a case-by-case basis, police protection for security reasons. The former Keeper of the Seals Christiane Taubira, for example, retained security officers for several weeks after leaving Place Vendôme in 2016.
The special status of the prime minister
If the former tenants of Matignon are also entitled to remuneration for three months, they retain, unlike their former comrades, other advantages. For example, Jean Castex will still be able to benefit, for life, from a company vehicle with driver – with the State covering the related costs -, as well as from a private secretary for ten years and until age 67 at the latest.
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Before a decree published in 2019, these means granted to former prime ministers were all unlimited in duration. It should be noted, however, that former heads of government who already have a secretariat or a company car do not benefit from it.for the exercise of a parliamentary mandate, a local elected mandate or a public function“, specifies the decree.
The former prime ministers can finally benefit from police protection at any time if they wish, provided by the protection service (SDLP) of the national police.
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