The Minister of Economy will not be able to take charge of the CDC group, La Poste or Bpifrance

The Minister of Economy and Finance, Eric Lombard, will not be able to deal with matters related to the Caisse des Dépôts group, La Poste and Bpifrance group companies, according to a decree from the Prime Minister published in the Official Journal on Sunday.

The powers listed in this decree will now be exercised by the Prime Minister. This resignation decree, issued five months after Mr. Lombard joined the government, was proposed by the Minister of the Economy himself, due to possible "conflicts of interest" between his position and decisions concerning this or that organization.

Such measures are provided for in a decree dated January 22, 1959. The decree published Sunday therefore now prohibits Mr. Lombard, who headed the Caisse des Dépôts group from 2017 to 2024, from "knowing about acts of any kind" relating to the CDC group "as such." This concerns in particular, the decree emphasizes, the appointments of his successors, the members of the supervisory board, or the determination of the annual payment of the CDC to the State.

In addition to corporate tax, the CDC pays the State annually a portion of its net profit, determined by decree after consulting the institution's supervisory committee. The CDC group includes La Poste, the investment bank Bpifrance, Euronext, Suez, RTE, etc.

According to Sunday's decree, Eric Lombard will no longer be able to hear any documents relating to companies in the La Poste group and companies in the Bpifrance group (except Bpifrance Assurance Export), in which the CDC is a 50% shareholder, and the State also holds 50%.

The decree also requires him to withdraw from any actions of any kind relating to the Grand Théâtre des Champs Elysées company, of which he chaired the board of directors until March.

Or to "refrain from any relationship and not be aware of any act relating" to entities as varied as the Marguerite Fund (2020 European Fund for Energy, Climate Change and Infrastructure, Editor's note), where he sat on the supervisory board as head of the CDC, the South Champagne Business School (SCBS, formerly ESC Troyes), because he sat on the strategic board of Y Schools, of which SCBS is a part. And the company Halmahera and its subsidiaries, headed by his wife Françoise.

Finally, he can no longer "know about acts of any nature" relating to the Cercle des économistes, an economic think tank of which he is a member of the supervisory board.