That's the professional bureaucrat overseeing the work e.g. an architect who chose to do his career in the civil service and is suffisently adept at navigating it/old enough to have been promoted. That is not in itself particularly reassuring.
Where I agree with you is that France most likely has both access to good experts and the technical know-how and means necessary to secure such a building.
> fully agree with the author in that they should be the ones designing the reconstructed spire
I completely disagree. The spire is gone. The original one is never going back. What's the point of making a copy ?
Since we have to build something, let's at least build something reflecting our time. It will be old soon enough. A worldwide art project will surely bring a lot more new and bold ideas to the table.