The current director general of the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) Éric Lombard was promoted on Monday to Minister of Economy and Finance, with a favorable record at the head of the powerful public institution, and will have the urgent task of providing France with a budget for 2025.
Also responsible for industrial and digital sovereignty, he will be supported by two ministers and three delegate ministers.
In charge of public finances, he will have to have close discussions with Brussels: France is one of Europe’s bad students with a public deficit which should reach 6.1% of GDP this year and a public debt of 3,300 billion euros.
Arriving at the CDC at the end of 2017, this economic technician’s achievements include the creation of the Banque des Territoires, the catastrophic recovery of Orpea (now Emeis) and the merger between CNP Assurances and the Bank. Postal.
Managing these files did not prevent him from discussing politics, going beyond the reserve expected of a boss of “the Fund”.
“How do you manage a financial institution in the world of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, to name three great progressive and enlightened democrats? »he asked himself at the beginning of the month, during a meeting organized by the Europe-finances-regulations association (AEFR).
“I think we have to look at things with confidence and above all by being extremely active”he replied.
Reappointed as head of the Caisse des Dépôts at the start of 2023, he has no reason to be ashamed of the financial results of recent years: this financial arm of the State made a net profit of €3.9 billion last year. euros.
Political awakening on the left…
A graduate of HEC in 1981, now aged 66, Eric Lombard began his career within the Paribas bank, before joining the Mitterrandie in 1989 with Michel Sapin in particular, then returning to Paribas the day after the setback of the left in the legislative elections of 1993. He held several positions there, including that of head of mergers and acquisitions in banking and insurance.

Eric Lombard, general director of the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC), presents the 2018 results of the CDC, April 11, 2019 in Paris / ERIC PIERMONT / AFP/Archives
Eric Lombard then managed insurance for the in-house subsidiary of now BNP Paribas, then moved in 2013 to the insurer Generali France. He was pushed out in 2017 by the new general director of the Italian group Philippe Donnet.
In the process, and at the end of a series of several weeks, he finally obtained the position at the head of the CDC at the end of 2017, replacing Pierre-René Lemas, pushed towards the exit by Emmanuel Macron after reaching the age of prefectural retirement, despite a mandate running until 2019.
He had opportunely offered himself the position of general director of the Caisse des Dépôts “if the position were to be vacant” less than two weeks after the election of Emmanuel Macron in 2017.
Interviewed by AFP in 2022, La Poste boss Philippe Wahl credited him with great technical skills and undeniable interpersonal skills.
A senior civil service executive noted that he had “did what was expected of him, in a context very constrained by the crisis”.
…before entering macronie
Eric Lombard, already expected at Bercy in May 2022, has already said “in line with Emmanuel Macron’s itinerary and project”.
However, he does not hesitate to throw a few arrows at him, in particular against pension reform, the management of the State Participation Agency and the Public Treasury.

Éric Lombard, general director of the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC), April 12, 2018 in Paris / ERIC PIERMONT / AFP/Archives
Two figures marked him in his youth, he explains in his book “At the heart of useful finance”published in early 2022: his grandfather, a textile industrialist based in Troyes and art collector, and the socialist Michel Rocard, minister during the first mandate of François Mitterrand and Prime Minister from 1988 to 1991.
“We don’t feel him internally as a man of the left”observes Salomé Vaillant, general secretary of the Unsa union.
“For anything social, he’s not really there”she laments, contacted Monday by AFP.
Very political, a great communicator, he willingly speaks to the media and travels extensively.
President of the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Éric Lombard is also, according to an acquaintance, a music lover – he plays the piano – and a sailing enthusiast.