The
École Nationale d'Administration (generally known as
ÉNA) is the school where many of France's senior officials are instructed. ENA produces fewer than 100 graduates every year, known as
énarques. It is seen as the way of choice to reach the great administrative corps of the State.
It was created in 1945 in Paris by Charles de Gaulle and has now been almost completely decentralised to Strasbourg to emphasize its European character.
ENA and politics
The main reason for entering ENA is that it has a legal quasi-monopoly on the access to some of the most prestigious positions ("Catégorie A") in the French state civil service (the École polytechnique fulfils this role for other prestigious and technical positions, while some schools like the École Nationale des Impôts allow access to very specific "Catégorie A" positions). The school was created in a move to make more rational and democratic the recruitment of personnel for various bodies of high administration. By having a system solely based on academic proficiency and competitive examinations, the reasoning went, recruitment for top positions could be made more transparent, without suspicion of political or personal preferences.[
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French law makes it relatively easy for civil servants to enter politics: civil servants who are elected or appointed to a political position do not have to resign their position in the civil service; instead, they are put in a situation of "temporary leave" known as
disponibilité. If they are not re-elected or reappointed, they may ask for their reintegration into their service (see Lionel Jospin, Bruno Mégret and Philippe Séguin for examples). In addition, ENA graduates are often recruited as aides by government ministers and other politicians; this makes it easier for some of them to enter a political career. As an example, Dominique de Villepin entered politics as an
appointed official, after serving as an aide to Jacques Chirac, without ever having held an elected position.
The
énarques were criticized as early as the 1960s for their technocratic and arrogant ways. Young
énarque Jacques Chirac was, for instance, lampooned in an album of the Asterix series. Such criticism has continued up to present times, with the
énarques being accused of monopolizing positions in higher administration and politics, without having to show real efficiency. It has become a recurrent theme for many French politicians to criticize ENA, even when they are former graduate themselves.[
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John Kenneth Galbraith and Pierre Bourdieu have studied the way this school shapes French industry and politics. The key point is that these "enarques" profit from two main privileges: not only do they have a monopoly of the top administrative positions within the civil service, but also they can go into politics and industry without risk.
However, only a small proportion of "enarques" (around 10%) actually get involved in politics. Most ENA alumni hold neutral, technical positions in the French civil service.
ENA also participates in international Technical Assistance programs, funded by the EU or other donors.
Recruitment and exit procedures
Entrance to ENA is granted on a competitive exam at the beginning of September, which people generally take after completing studies at the
Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (more widely known as
Sciences Po). The "concours externe" exam is in two parts :
The written part includes - an essay on public law- an essay on the economy- an essay on "general knowledge" (
culture générale, extremely common in French competitive exams),- a
note de synthèse (summarizing 40 to 70 pages of documents) in either (at the candidate's choice) European Law and Policies (
Questions Européennes) or Social Law and Policies (
Questions Sociales)- a
cinquième épreuve chosen by the candidate among many different subjects ranging from mathematics to "administrative sciences" or language. The oral exam, taken only by those with the highest marks in the written exam, consists of - An oral examination on Public Finances- An oral examination on International Politics (
Questions Internationales)- An oral examination either on
Questions Européennes or on
Questions Sociales (whichever subject the candidate did not choose on the written test)- An oral examination to test the skill of the candidate in a foreign language.- A physical test- the famous 45-minute long
Grand Oral during which any question can be asked, from general knowledge to very personal questions. Results of this exam process are published by the end of December.
Other exam processes govern admission for career civil servants training themselves for high-level positions (
concours interne) and for political or union leaders who need specific training (
troisième concours).
ENA ranks students according to their academic merit; students are then asked, in order of decreasing merit, the service that they want to join. While the first ranked join prestigious corps like the Inspection of Finances,
Conseil d'État or Cour des Comptes, and some enter national politics, many end up in middle-level administrative positions. To quote site:
In fact, although these famous alumni are the most visible, the majority are largely unknown, lead quiet and useful careers in our civil service, and don't recognise themselves in the stereotyped images about our school. In addition, ENA offers courses for foreign students. So far, 1800 young public servants from all parts of the world have taken part in the "cycle long", which lasts 18 months. They spend part of the time studying alongside their French counterparts and part working in a
Préfecture.
Alumni
Some famous alumni include:
- Presidents: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Jacques Chirac
- Prime Ministers: Laurent Fabius, Michel Rocard, Édouard Balladur, Alain Juppé, Lionel Jospin and Dominique de Villepin
- Ministers: Philippe Séguin, Elisabeth Guigou, Martine Aubry and many others (typically one-third of every French cabinet since the 1960s and one-half of the Cabinet for recent administrations until Sarkozy's)[1]
- Other political leaders: Ségolène Royal and François Hollande, who met at ENA[1]
- Industry leaders: Michel Bon, ex-CEO of France Telecom, Jean-Marie Messier, Ernest-Antoine Seillière, Louis Schweitzer, Gérard Mestrallet, and Jean-Yves Haberer
- Others: Pascal Lamy, Jean-Claude Trichet, Michel Camdessus, Jacques de Larosière, Alfred Sant (Prime Minister of Malta) (1996-1998)
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