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- Catherine Pégard
Photo : N. Duprey/CD78
(CC BY-ND 2.0 Deed) - See the image in its page
We won’t go back over Catherine Pégard’s illegitimacy as president of the Versailles public establishment. She has long since exceeded all the age and term limits laid down by law. The Ministry of Culture claims, against all evidence, that she is " on an interim basis ", which is not possible either. Moreover, in none of the documents she signs does she specify "on an interim basis".
The already huge scandal recently highlighted by the Cour des Comptes (see article) has now been compounded by the departure of the General Administrator, Thierry Gausseron, who took over as Director of the Musée de la Marine at the beginning of January. This deprives the institution of an exectutive [1], whose role as defined by the statutes is to "prepare and implement the decisions of the President and the Administrative Board" and to "assure, by delegation of the President, the management of the services of the institution".
This General Administrator is appointed by a decree of the Minister of Culture, on the recommendation of the President of the Château de Versailles public establishment. It should be remembered that there is no longer a legitimate president, and in any case the Minister for Culture has not yet appointed any new general administrator. True, it’s not as if we were expecting Thierry Gausseron’s departure, which had only been planned for several months! So who can take on the role of general administrator from now on? Nothing could be simpler: all that was needed was for his powers to be delegated to the deputy general administrator. And by whom? That’s right: by Catherine Pégard, who is no more President of Versailles today than the author of these lines!
So it was by decision no. 2023-4, dated 18 December 2023, that Catherine Pégard, who no longer has any powers, gave Louis-Samuel Berger the mandate to "sign on behalf of the president, all acts and decisions falling within the scope of the latter’s powers, as defined by the decree of 11 November 2010 which defines the statutes of the public institution [2]"
We can appreciate the ultimate paradox of a person who signs to give powers that she does not have.
Versailles therefore no longer has a president or general administrator, and this situation is likely to continue until the end of the year, after the Olympic Games, since the latter are the unofficial reason for Catherine Pégard’s undue extension. Anything is possible when no rules apply.
It’s a shame that no association has taken the matter to court. But given that, according to our sources, the committees examining the invitations to tender are still chaired by the "president" Catherine Pégard, we can still hope that a company whose application has not been selected will take up the case and challenge the decision in court. This is the only solution left in a country where the rule of law clearly no longer exists, or where it is based on criteria that escape us...
