ByMIRIAM SELA-EITAM

AUGUST 3 2026 13:44

Updated: AUGUST 3 2026 14:35

France has started judicial and internal probes into the French Prime Minister’s Service (SPM) after two staff members died by suicide and several others tried to end their lives in recent months.

SPM oversees roughly 50 secretariats directorates and missions plus other independent groups at the Hotel Matignon the official home of the French prime minister.

On Monday France Inter public radio reported that labor unions asked for talks with SPM leaders in early June about the crisis. After those talks an internal review of one employee’s suicide attempt that had been delayed was finally approved.

The unions also secured SPM’s pledge for broader risk checks in all its offices France Inter said with the work to be done by an outside firm in the months ahead.

“All we want is to restart a healthy dynamic for everyone” a staff representative told France Inter.

France Inter added that a complaint was filed in June under Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which requires any official who learns of a crime to notify the justice system.

The complaint submitted by a staff representative after the April suicide attempt of SPM employee Laura a pseudonym cites unusually grave problems with working conditions at SPM.

Mocked and isolated

Beginning in late 2023 my client was made invisible Laura’s lawyer Christelle Mazza told France Inter. She was no longer invited to meetings she was taken off the organizational chart she counted for nothing. She was mocked and jeered at like a schoolyard target and pushed aside.

Mazza noted that Laura was eventually cut off from her team and moved to a basement office.

After receiving no real response from her managers Laura sought help from other professionals and an internal audit found severe workplace distress yet the only suggestion was for her to leave the department.

Ultimately the problem becomes her Mazza told France Inter. She reached a situation common in public administrations nothing changed even though everything was known. Warning signs are ignored and then they surface with harm to people’s physical well being.

Laura’s case is not unique France Inter reported.

In October 2025 an employee at the Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information attempted suicide in her office by cutting her throat with a box cutter.

Colleagues struck in protest but the event was not classified as a workplace accident.

Less than six months later in March 2026 a project manager in the General Secretariat for Investment died by suicide at home while working remotely according to France Inter.

Days afterward an employee of the General Secretariat of the Government threw himself under a train in Val d’Oise in a setting of known workplace distress according to the Article 40 report seen by France Inter.

Each time France Inter observed SPM set up a support program for colleagues.

Finally saw a pattern

We have crossed a line this buildup creates a pattern and we finally saw it an SPM source told France Inter.

France Inter linked the pattern to French political instability with four different governments since the 2024 dissolution of the National Assembly.

It is like a new army arrives every four to six months an SPM staff representative said. The chief of staff wants to impose a fresh structure teams shift offices are redone phones are reassigned and everyone must adapt to the new boss’s demands.

The first effects appeared about ten years ago with departments destabilized one employee recalled. Mergers reduced headcounts and more contract workers have weakened the feeling of belonging to a group.

At the same time there is a generational change another source added with managers from the private sector who simply want the Matignon credential on their resume. They are often technically skilled but their management approach is harsh. They arrive without grasp of public service culture lecture staff and damage processes before departing.

We need to reinforce the political side and our departments which requires reforms but the Prime Minister’s services cannot become a lawless zone as they sometimes appear.