Opened by DeGaulle, shut by Macron: France's elite ENA school to close

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French President Charles de Gaulle (center), jurist and politician Rene Cassin (left) and Prime Minister Michel Debre (right) visit the prestigious Ecole Nationale d'Administration in 1959. /AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron detailed plans to do away with an elite academic institution that has been a pillar of the country's power establishment for 75 years, replacing it with a more egalitarian version.

In an address to hundreds of ranking civil servants by video conference, Macron spelled out what he said was the need for "radical change" in the training of the top ranks of the civil service – including putting an end to the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, widely known as ENA.

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ENA is to be replaced by a new creation, the Institute for Public Service, with a vastly different approach to recruiting, training and selecting top civil servants.

The plan to do away with the Strasbourg-based school is part of Macron's larger transformation of the public sector, ridden with red tape, to bring more "humanity," "efficiency" and "simplicity."

Macron himself, like most French presidents, is a graduate of ENA, which is the training ground for the nation's most senior civil servants. The most prestigious of French graduate schools, it was created in 1945 by Charles de Gaulle – ironically to democratize access to the senior civil service.

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Emmanuel Macron, President of France, 2017-present: After graduating from ENA in 2004, Macron worked as a senior civil servant and an investment banker at Rothschild & Co. He advised former President Francois Hollande before taking the role himself in 2017. /Olivier Matthys/AP Photo

Francois Hollande, former President of France, 2012-17: Graduating from ENA in 1980, Hollande took on Jacques Chirac in a local election. He lost, but rose through the Socialist Party in the 1990s and 2000s. He eventually won the presidency in 2012, defeating Nicolas Sarkozy. /Stephane de Sakutin/AP

Jacques Chirac, former President of France, 1995-2007: Chirac, a mainstay of French politics for decades, graduated the ENA in 1959. After twice serving as prime minister in the 1970s and 1980s, the latter under Mitterand, Chirac became president in 1995. /Philippe Wojazer/AP Photo

Jacques Attali, French writer and presidential advisor: Writer, theorist and advisor to presidents, Attali graduated from ENA in 1970. Attali crossed the political divide, advising Socialist president Francois Mitterand and then the more conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy. /Christophe Ena/AP Photo

Louis Schweitzer, CEO of Groupe Renault: A ENA graduate in 1970, Schweitzer (left, with Chirac) turned around car manufacturer Renault. The Swiss-born businessman was also on the board of several global companies including AstraZeneca, BNP Paribas and L'Oréal. /Jack Dabaghian/AP Photo

Macron had first referred to the idea two years ago, as France was shaken by the yellow vest protest movement that demanded economic and social justice.

The reform would include a common learning trunk for all top civil servants to expose them to the realities of today, including secularism, poverty, ecology and scientific discourse.

To placate the yellow vest protesters, whose marches in 2019 severely disrupted the country, Macron traveled France discussing contested issues in what was billed as a "great national debate." It concluded with an April 25 news conference in which he said ENA should be closed because it doesn't resemble French society.

Source(s): AP

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