1. President of the Republic, Minister of Culture, who decides?
“On the proposal of the Minister of Culture, the President of the Republic has appointed…”: This usual formulation could sum up everything there is to know about the process of appointing the directors or presidents of the hundred or so national cultural operators as well as the heads of the three general directorates of the Rue de Valois. As provided for in Article 13 of the Constitution, the president is the depositary of the power of appointment; he does so by decree, in the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Culture. However, two decisions of the Council of State (March 26, 1978 and March 10, 1959) consider this power of proposal of the minister as binding: the President of the Republic can accept the proposal of the minister, request a new proposal, or not fill the position. For some national operators, the appointment of the director is made by simple decree of the minister, after validation by the board of directors of the operator, and not by presidential decree: this is the case of the Rodin Museum, or the École du Louvre. The procedures are the same for new appointments or renewals of mandate.
2. What happens in the event of “cohabitation”?
In the event of cohabitation, the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic share the power of appointment in what could become a battleground. On the eve of the first cohabitation, the former President of the Republic, François Mitterrand, had expanded the list of positions whose appointment is made by decree of the “PR”, and not by order of the minister. Among them, the management of several cultural establishments, including the Grand Louvre, the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie, the Établissement public du parc et de la grande halle de la Villette ((EPPGHV) or the Opéra Bastille. The balance of powers is however conducive to negotiations, or the status quo: to appoint or renew his candidates, the President of the Republic must obtain the approval of the Prime Minister to initial his decision. Conversely, the government cannot impose an appointment to these reserved positions without a decree from the president. In theory, the ministers retain the initiative of the proposal.
3. Recruitment procedures that are not codified enough
The selection of candidates for the management of cultural operators is still very vague. A process had been put in place by François Hollande’s Minister of Culture, Aurélie Filippetti, who even wanted to go a step further by involving parliament in the candidate auditions. For the management of the Beaux-Arts in Paris, Minister Fleur Pellerin had for example proposed the artist Jean-Marc Bustamante to the President of the Republic after consulting an ad hoc committee of professionals. As a general rule, a jury made up of senior civil servants from the Rue de Valois is formed, responsible for auditioning spontaneous candidates or those invited to apply and making recommendations to the minister. The cultural advisor to the President of the Republic is very often involved in the list of candidates. Emmanuel Macron, like his predecessors sometimes, is keen to meet the finalists.
These more or less open procedures can, however, discourage certain candidates who do not wish to let their teams know that they wish to leave. The High Authority for Transparency in Public Life (HATVP) exercises binding control over these appointments, and in one very specific case: that of the recruitment of a person from the private sector.
4. The duration of mandates and their renewal
The length of mandates was largely harmonized by Minister Fleur Pellerin, in a decree of October 2015, reducing the vast majority of management positions to a three-year term, renewable twice. A few exceptions exist: at the BNF, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Château de Versailles, the first term is five years, renewable for two periods of three years. The vast majority of holders of management positions who request it are renewed, even after a change of executive. With notable exceptions, such as Jean-Luc Martinez, whose request for renewal at the head of the Louvre was not successful, in favor of Laurence des Cars.
5. Interim work: an excess which creates a legal risk
The example of Catherine Pégard, who was still in office as president of the public institution of the Château de Versailles a year and a half after the end of her last term, demonstrates that the executive can also decide to keep a director beyond the legal duration of his or her term, and the age limit in the civil service, which is 67 years. However, this scenario poses significant legal risks for all decisions taken by the president or director in an irregular interim situation. This was the case in Versailles, where several sanctions against agents were challenged and annulled before the courts, on the basis of the legal incompetence of the interim president.
