Hearing of Laurence des Cars : senators are not fooled

« You declared before us, on 22 October last, I quote : “I did not rule in favour of one priority rather than another, I made security an absolute emergency”. The IGAC [1] and the MISSA [2], in their administrative investigation, as well as the Court of Auditors, in its thematic report, unfortunately reach the opposite conclusion. »

In his introduction to the second hearing of Laurence des Cars before the Senate’s cultural committee, its chairman, Laurent Lafon (ill. 1), did not mince his words. Right from the outset indeed, he shows that he is not fooled by the misleading or insufficient answers given to them by the president of the Louvre during her first appearance before this body (see the article). And he also says : « Madam President, your statements on the master plan have evolved since 1 October and this evolution has sown a certain confusion. »
He specifies the Louvre’s shortcomings : « These conclusions [of the investigation report] are […] of great severity for your management as for that of the previous team. They clearly establish that the burglary of 19 October, far from constituting a fortuitous event, was made possible by an accumulation of failings in the steering of the museum which could and should have been resolved by the date of the theft. » and he does not hesitate to speak of a « general failure of the Louvre in matters of security ».

One might have expected, in the face of such a finding, that Laurence des Cars (ill. 2) would finally accept to acknowledge her responsibilities and explain herself. This was obviously not the case. Persisting in her partial and false explanations, she acknowledged virtually no error except perhaps, grudgingly, a poor assessment of the…