PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron is facing accusations of playing politics with the country’s civil service after tapping Budget Minister Amélie de Montchalin as the country’s next top auditor.

Once she takes the post as the head of France’s Court of Auditors, it would be de Montchalin’s job to independently review and assess the impact of the French budget each year — including the 2026 budget she was responsible for drawing up.

“How will [de] Montchalin be able to criticize the budgets she designed?” a financial magistrate, granted anonymity to speak candidly about their potential new boss, told POLITICO.

Eric Coquerel, a lawmaker from the hard-left France Unbowed who chairs the National Assembly’s finance committee, said in a post on X that the danger had nothing to do with de Montchalin personally but the serious conflict of interest her nomination represents.

“Everyone understands the danger that this institution, one in which the French people have confidence, would face,” Coquerel said.

De Montchalin, 40, would also be guaranteed job security until the mandatory retirement age of 68, prompting speculation that her appointment was also a way to prevent a future president from the far-right National Rally, which is the front-runner in next year’s presidential race, from filling the post.

Macron faced similar accusations on Monday following the news that Bank of France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau would quit his job in June. Had Villeroy seen out his term, the succession would have been in the gift of whoever follows Macron as president.

National Rally heavyweight Jean-Philippe Tanguy suspected as much, saying: “I spend my life telling people that Macronism is illiberal and uses democracy as a doormat.”

Tanguy later said on X that de Montchalin’s nomination was “a scandal” considering how it came on the heels of Villeroy’s resignation.

Naming the next top French auditor was always going to be the prerogative of Macron given the previous one, Pierre Moscovici, was set to hit the mandatory retirement age of 68 in September, months before the presidential contest. Moscovici, a former European commissioner, left the job at the end of last year to sit on the European Court of Auditors.

But de Montchalin’s relative youth and her ties to Macron — she previously worked in the private sector and owes her political career to the president — have opponents of the president crying foul.

Macron faced similar criticisms last year from adversaries after he named a political ally with limited legal training to lead France’s highest constitutional authority.

Élisa Bertholomy and Joshua Berlinger contributed to this report.