French PM asks ministers to clamp down on corruption in civil service

"Very noteworthy." The two words, annotated in Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's own handwriting and underlined twice, immediately set the tone of the message he sent to his government on Tuesday, August 18. In his instructions, Lecornu urged ministers to "step up the fight against integrity violations" within public administrations and state-run establishments.

The directive came as the issue of corruption in the civil service has become an increasingly important concern, against a backdrop of expanding drug trafficking. The risk had been identified long ago. Back in May 2024, a Sénat investigative committee had already called for "waking up" to "escape" the trap of drug trafficking. The committee urged a more active fight against corruption in the public sector to "contain the contagion of drug trafficking."

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