The election of MP Éric Coquerel from the radical-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party as chair of the National Assembly's Finance Committee sparked an unforeseen wave of panic in the summer of 2022. According to government and administrative sources, representatives of billionaire Bernard Arnault, the richest man in France, pressed the Ministry of the Economy and Finance to classify his personal tax file as “top secret”.
This request for his file to be classified – a procedure which is supposed to protect the interests of national security - was aimed at preventing the leftwing MP from exercising his right to consult the tax records of the chairman of luxury group LVMH. Traditionally a post reserved for the opposition, the chair of the Finance Committee has, as one of their constitutional prerogatives, the power to review taxpayers' tax files on-site at the French Treasury. This is in accordance with the committee's mission to ensure the sound management of public finances.
So when the 2022 parliamentary elections saw the broad leftwing alliance NUPES become the main opposition force, the very real prospect of Éric Coquerel’s appointment triggered considerable anxiety on the Right. This led to serious efforts to block his selection.
Enlargement : Illustration 1
A few days before the Finance Committee members were due to vote on who should be chair, Éric Woerth, a former budget minister under President Nicolas Sarkozy, warned in Le Figaro newspaper about the risks of a leftwing chair who would “take an interest in the files of various individuals and households, as well as businesses”. He expressed his preference for a candidate from the ranks of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN), despite that party finishing in third place in the 2022 elections.
“The fear we might have, given that La France Insoumise is constantly playing politics and has an extremely strong ideological stance, is that it could be tempting to arrange leaks,” added the former Les Républicains MP Gilles Carrez, who chaired the Finance Committee from 2012 to 2017. He warned about the risk of “throwing taxpayers’ or even businesses’ tax records to the wolves”, warning that such a scenario would mark the “beginning of totalitarianism”.
This campaign was also played out in the columns of Les Échos, France’s leading economic daily, which happens to be owned by none other than Arnault's LVMH group. “In practice, it will be difficult to deny [the leftwing alliance] this post, which provides access to some of the most sensitive information, particularly fiscal, within [the French Treasury],” lamented editorial writer Jean-Francis Pécresse, calling for people to “wake-up” and take “action”. On the eve of the vote, the newspaper reiterated its concern. “If the Finance Committee endorses the choice of Éric Coquerel as chair [...], it will turn its back on the unwritten tradition of appointing a moderate,” it argued, reminding readers that the last leftwing MP to hold the role - Jérôme Cahuzac, under Sarkozy’s presidency - met this “condition” of moderation.
These publicly-raised concerns were accompanied by behind-the-scenes manoeuvring to strip a leftwing committee chair of their powers, while Bernard Arnault reportedly displayed considerable anxiety to members of his inner circle. “This is very, very serious,” he told one confidant, who spoke to Mediapart on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject. During the most recent trial over LVMH’s surveillance operations targeting journalist François Ruffin – who later became an MP for La France Insoumise - the billionaire reiterated his dread of the “socialist-Marxist and Trotskyist ideology” of the leftwing party.
Luxury goods as a strategic sector
In the summer of 2022, Bernard Arnault's representatives requested that his personal financial records be made inaccessible in the event of any investigation launched by Éric Coquerel. Their idea was to secure “top secret” classification for these documents, which could then only be accessed by a handful of authorised civil servants at the French Treasury.
Initially hesitant, the office of economy and finance minister Bruno Le Maire, then headed by senior official Bertrand Dumont – he is now Director-General of the Treasury – looked into the possibility, according to Mediapart's information. Discussions reportedly focused on the justifications that could be provided to support such a decision. The LVMH boss's advisors argued that the luxury industry represented a strategic sector for France's economic sovereignty. “They know how to be inventive,” quipped one participant in the discussions.
When questioned by Mediapart, Bruno Le Maire stated that he had “no knowledge of these matters” and made no further comment. Bertrand Dumont, his former chief of staff, did not respond. Similarly, neither the Élysée nor Gabriel Attal, then the minister for public accounts, replied to Mediapart's inquiries about any potential involvement in this matter.
For his part, Bernard Arnault “categorically denies having taken any steps in this regard”.
This suggests that Mr Arnault perhaps has something to hide.
Despite these discussions, the move was subsequently blocked by the Direction Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFiP), the ministry's body overseeing tax and financial management then headed by Jérôme Fournel, who served as chief of staff to prime minister Michel Barnier. Questioned on this matter, the DGFIP pointed out that requests for secret classification cannot apply to private individuals. Not even Bernard Arnault, it seems.
When informed by Mediapart, the chair of the Assembly’s Finance Committee, Éric Coquerel, remarked: “This shows that Mr Arnault perhaps has something to hide, and it sheds light on how someone like him thinks they're above the law. The years may pass, but the ultra-wealthy do not change. In 1981 [editor's note when socialist François Mitterrand was elected president] they feared tanks on the Champs-Élysées. Here it was merely the prospect of a Finance Committee chair. This raises the question of any purported pressure Mr Arnault may have exerted on Macron to avoid appointing the NFP [editor's note, NUPE's successor at the July 2024 elections, the Nouveau Front Populaire] as the government [editor's note, the NFP became the single largest bloc in the National Assembly after the elections in July].”
Why was the boss of LVMH - whose group was targeted in 2019 by a tax fraud investigation in Belgium which was later dropped due to a procedural issue - so concerned about the possibility of his personal tax records being reviewed?
After relocating to the United States with his family in 1981 following François Mitterrand’s election - he returned in 1984 - Bernard Arnault threatened to move to Belgium in 2012 after the Socialist Party returned to power under President François Hollande. As recently revealed by Le Nouvel Obs news magazine, France’s wealthiest businessman, who enjoys privileged access to the Élysée - where in particular he sponsors Brigitte Macron’s network of “second chance” schools - has made use of his power and networks to try to prevent a leftwing government from taking office.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The original French version of this article can be found here.
English version by Michael Streeter