| Summary, etc. |
Openness, the fight against corruption and, more generally, the meaning of public service are currently the subject of lively debates in France. Many members of the public believe that officials do not have sufficient respect for their professional duties. The zeal of magistrates in the judicial order is in part responsible for this concern. The multiplication of scandals should not, however, lead to overly hasty conclusions. The public service in France retains its overall integrity because its officials `have exuded a certain mentality, a service and public office ethic, a sense of the State which are not favourable to the growth of corruption on a large scale. Ethics are located at the intersection of several disciplines, including philosophy, sociology, law and politics. In an absolute sense ethics can be seen as reflecting the conscience of the public official. However, in a relative sense ethics can be seen as an applied field with close ties to the law and perfected by jurisprudential influence. The trend in contemporary social dialogue is to refer to particular fields of applied or `professional' ethics. An analysis of the ethics of public service must, consequently, be viewed in terms of diffuse requirements, such as those of disinterest, morality, loyalty, neutrality and impartiality. However, matching all of these `permanent' obligations, in a much more homogeneous way, true public-service ethics manifest themself by encompassing a priori concepts, autonomous and independent, but nevertheless undeniably linked to them under the same inspiration. As Professor Rivero stresses, `there is, inevitably, as the basis of any human grouping, a minimum of values which requires the respect of freedoms, while ipso facto restricting them'. The constitutional and administrative judges in France have made an extensive contribution to asserting the public-service ethic and that they have recently been supported in this by the reforms undertaken at the initiative of the legislature and executive authorities |
