“Citizens can help us control the use of public money”: the regional audit office awaits ideas for investigation

La chambre régionale des comptes est ouverte à toute proposition de contrôle. Midi Libre – JEAN MICHEL MART

Pascal Ros, vice-president of the regional audit chamber of Occitanie, discusses the third citizen participation campaign. The initiative made it possible to launch a check on public support for bullfighting in 2024.

Pascal Rose, vice-president of the regional audit chamber of Occitanie. DR

You are asking citizens to submit control ideas for the third consecutive year. Does this mean that this approach is appealing?

This is a rise in power of this initiative supported by the financial jurisdictions since 2022. Last year, we recorded some 20,000 participations, all regional chambers combined, with more than 600 proposals for themes. We saw a real interest in public affairs, which is reassuring for democracy. This therefore led us to repeat the exercise.

What guides this approach ? Guide you towards topics that you would not necessarily have gone to ?

Our aim is to carry out checks as closely as possible to the concerns of citizens. What could be better, then, than to give them a voice? In the Occitan territory, there are nearly 8,600 local authorities and organizations subject to the rules of public accounting spread over 13 departments and representing an annual financial weight of more than 34 billion euros, which are likely to be checked. Our resources are limited and this inevitably forces us to make choices, we cannot go to all areas. Giving citizens a voice therefore allows us to move towards new subjects.

How to propose a control subject ?

Until October 4, any citizen can submit an idea for an audit, either nationally to the Court of Auditors, or regionally or locally or to the regional audit office in their region, by going to the website www.participationcitoyenne.ccomptes.fr. You must then click on “Participate” and create an account, to contribute to the debate or support one of the proposals already submitted. “Any topic can be proposed, the only condition being that public money is at stake and that it is auditable by our teams”, summarizes Pascal Ros. For the moment, two themes have been submitted: social housing and urban renewal policies in Occitanie; the role and power of chambers of agriculture.

This is what guides your choices, among all the subjects that are proposed to you?

The contemporary, innovative character of a theme is one of the criteria, in fact. Last year, we also retained in Occitania two of the subjects for which we were most solicited, including at the national level, particularly that linked to public support for bullfighting.

Wasn't it just the effect of a militant and organized act of anti-bullfighting ?

We do not have to judge or assess the conditions in which the subjects come up. The first report from the national participatory campaign, in 2022, was on the hunters' federation, another controversial subject with its supporters and opponents. The Regional Audit Office does not have to rule for or against. Our mission is, however, to determine in this case, the overall cost, for public authorities, of these bullfighting events: the subsidies of course, but also the provision of personnel or arenas. We also examine the management of this equipment, the possible economic benefits, how the communities measure these… It is up to us to find the way to provide added value and thus remain at the heart of our business: studying how public money is used.

This is the case for the other theme chosen last year, the use of consulting firms by local authorities?

Indeed. There was a report from the Court of Auditors dedicated to this subject at the State level. It is a way for the Occitanie Chamber to look at how things are going in the region. Do local authorities use these external firms a lot, little or not at all ? Under what conditions ? Has this helped them in decision-making ?

The common point with bullfighting is that we examined a sample of communities, which will give rise, for both subjects, to a regional synthesis in order to put into perspective the good practices and the more fragile ones.

When these reports are completed and made public ?

We are concerned about acting very quickly so that citizens have their answers to the questions that arise in the shortest possible time. This is for the sake of transparency and to maintain the trust that citizens place in us. These two reports should therefore be completed by the end of the year.

Isn't your role even more important at a time when the executive is advocating severe savings ?

The heart of our job is indeed to promote the proper use of public money. Today more than ever, the efficiency and economy of financial resources dedicated to public action must be at the heart of the concerns of public actors, the primary recipients of our reports, and we try to contribute to this by making recommendations, avenues for savings or reform. And citizens have the opportunity to help us.

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