Adrien Bacquet — Visitor at Harvard College for the year 2024-2025.
General Policy Statement by Prime Minister François Bayrou, January 14, 2025.
Public Sénat, https://www.publicsenat.fr/actualites/politique/direct-suivez-le-discours-de-politique-generale-de-francois-bayrou
With the United States once again elevating a businessman to its highest office—and appointing fellow entrepreneur Elon Musk to head a new advisory council on government efficiency—a pressing question arises: Are we witnessing the rise of a reformed political order where “successful entrepreneurs” increasingly become “politicized entrepreneurs?” The phenomenon is not entirely without precedent. In France, a growing number of municipalities are already governed by business leaders. Yet the spectacular entrance of Elon Musk into the heart of the American governmental apparatus may well signal a decisive shift toward a truly global entrepreneurial politics.
The United States is openly embracing a policy of aggressive cost-cutting. Much like Javier Milei’s efforts to dismantle bureaucratic excess in Argentina, the mission of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE) is unambiguous: to lighten the weight of the federal government by eliminating expenditures the Trump administration deems unnecessary, and to crack down on what it describes as “massive fraud.”1 Increasingly, political leadership appears to be adopting the ethos of entrepreneurs like Musk—figures intimately familiar with the relentless drive for efficiency that defines companies such as Tesla and SpaceX. Could France, too, soon find itself swept up by a wave of political “efficiency-mania” led by its own captains of industry?
In his inaugural policy address, French Prime Minister François Bayrou pledged to champion a sweeping movement of de-bureaucratization. Alongside this commitment, he unveiled plans for a legislative package aimed at simplifying economic life, notably through a reversal of the burden of proof: under the new framework, it would be the administration, not the citizen, responsible for filling out paperwork, leaving individuals merely to verify, rather than produce, the required documentation. Borrowing from the principles of industrial streamlining, this approach seeks to ease the workings of a state often perceived as paralyzed by bureaucratic inertia.
According to Philippe Manière, reducing the bureaucratic burden in France does not hinge on mass layoffs of civil servants. Rather, it demands a wholesale reorganization and consolidation of public bodies to eliminate the overlapping layers of administrative governance.2 As sovereign debt reduction has become a national imperative, the government increasingly views de-bureaucratization not as a mere administrative tweak, but as a vital complement to its broader fiscal reforms. In their study The Cost of Red Tape: How Regulation Impacts GDP in European Countries, Bruno Pellegrino, Assistant Professor at Columbia Business School, and Geoffery Zheng, Assistant Professor at NYU Shanghai, conclude that administrative complexities alone cost the French economy 3.9% of its GDP.3
Meanwhile, French essayist and former senior civil servant David Djaïz has drawn attention to another critical dimension of administrative reform: the recognition of individual merit within the public sector. Speaking with journalist Nicolas Demorand, Djaïz insisted on the need to “abandon the myth of heroism,” highlighting how the extraordinary dedication of certain public servants often goes unrewarded.4 Today’s system, he argued, deprives public institutions of the essential tools to “retain, incentivize, value, reward, and remunerate” their most committed agents, ultimately constraining governmental effectiveness. Liberalizing recognition mechanisms and granting administrations the means to meaningfully reward merit must become a central pillar of any serious effort to restore state efficiency.
This vision, focused on reengineering institutional structures and empowering public sector leadership, stands in sharp contrast to the more radical approach emerging in the United States. Whereas the Trump administration, and more recently Javier Milei’s government in Argentina, have pursued sweeping cuts to budgets, personnel, and agencies, France is treading a more cautious path. Its reforms aim to redeploy civil servants toward new missions rather than abruptly eliminating jobs. This prudence reflects both a keen awareness of the social risks inherent in abrupt reforms and the outsized role of the public sector in the French economy: according to OECD data, public employees account for roughly 20% of France’s active workforce and contribute significantly to its GDP.
The entry of Elon Musk into the Trump administration must also be understood in the broader context of public debt reduction. A master of cost optimization and operational streamlining, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX embodies the ambition to import entrepreneurial reflexes into the management of state affairs. Yet the sudden ascension of powerful business figures to the levers of political power is not without its dangers. Beyond traditional lobbying, a more profound concern arises: what happens when individuals with vast private interests become directly involved in shaping public policy? Is France prepared for the emergence of such conflicts of interest?
Elon Musk’s recent activities in Europe offer a glimpse into these potential perils. His close ties to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and his interventions in German political debates suggest a deliberate strategy to influence European regulatory environments, particularly in pursuit of unfettered freedom of expression on his platform, X.
Entrusting public responsibilities to figures with extensive private holdings—whose decisions may be colored by their financial interests—risks undermining the utilitarian ideal that ought to guide public service. It also raises the very real danger of political agendas being steered by personal financial considerations. The potential impact is far from hypothetical: a 2022 study by the Blockchain Research Lab documented the so-called “Musk Effect,” highlighting Musk’s extraordinary influence on cryptocurrency markets.5 What might become of this effect now that its architect occupies a seat at the heart of executive power?6
For now, France remains largely immune to the cult of the omnipotent entrepreneur. Its drive for administrative simplification is still anchored in the long-term project of institutional reform, not in a quest for efficiency embodied by a single charismatic business figure. It is, at least for the foreseeable future, difficult to imagine Bernard Arnault sitting alongside the President of the Republic at the Council of Ministers.
1. Iris Deroeux and Maxime Vaudano, “Aux États-Unis, comment Elon Musk brandit le fantasme des ‘fraudes’ pour sabrer dans les dépenses de l’État”, Le Monde, 25 February 2025.
2. Philippe Manière and David Djaïz, “Lutter contre les excès de bureaucratie: urgence ou démagogie?”, Le 7/10 France Inter, 19 November 2024.
3. Bruno Pellegrino and Geoffrey Zheng, “Quantifying the Impact of Red Tape on Investment: A Survey Data Approach”, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy & the State, Working Paper (no. 335), 5 October 2023.
4. Philippe Manière and David Djaïz, supra note 2.
5. Lennart Ante, “How Elon Musk’s Twitter Activity Moves Cryptocurrency Markets”, Blockchain Research Lab, Working Paper Series no. 16, 12 January 2022.
6. Elon Musk has announced his resignation on May 29, 2025.