Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Secretary of State and candidate for regional in Hauts-de-France is at the heart of a controversy concerning her spouse and her candidacy. – Mourad ALLILI / SIPA
This story is quite complicated, so let’s go back to it from the beginning, on May 9th. At this time, this is the penultimate day of filing the lists for the regional elections which will take place next June. Several government ministers are present on LREM lists in various territories. Among them: Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for Industry. But surprise, the one who coveted the 16th arrondissement of Paris during the last municipal elections and who is the happy owner of two properties in the capital, is today a candidate in a non-eligible position on the Pas-de-Calais list, in the Hauts-de-France.
Asked about this by the media Politico, her cabinet indicated that the minister had “now a part of her personal life in the Pas-de-Calais”. This “personal life” is her new spouse: Nicolas Bays, chief of staff at the Ministry of Industry (that of Agnès Pannier-Runacher) – be careful not to confuse the latter with Nicolas Bay, without “s” , RN deputy (we told you that it was complicated) -… The couple “took together the decision of a common life” in Hauts-de-France, added the cabinet, thus justifying the surprising candidacy of Agnès Pannier-Runacher in this region. But the matter does not end there.
Nicolas Bays was still chief of staff when the lists were filed?
As provided by the law on transparency of public life, voted in 2017, a member of the executive does not have the right to “count among the members of his cabinet his spouse (…) or partner”. Clearly, Agnès Pannier-Runacher cannot both justify a new home address in Hauts-de-France with her partner Nicolas Bays and keep the latter at the head of his cabinet. Failure to comply with these obligations is punishable by three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros, but could also result in the invalidation of the entire LREM list in Hauts-de-France in regional elections. .
The question then is whether Nicolas Bays was still chief of staff when the lists for the elections were submitted. Politico teams note that 10 days later, when the terraces reopened on May 19, Agnès Pannier-Runacher posted on the networks a photo of her and her team having a coffee near Bercy. Among them was Nicolas Bays. The media reported that at the time none of his colleagues were aware of any resignation and did not learn of it until Friday, May 20, just after the media interviewed the law firm. minister.
“My spouse no longer works for me”
Despite this, the Minister for Industry ensures that she is within her rights. The official announcement of the departure of Nicolas Bays in the Official Journal of Saturday, May 22 indeed reports a resignation which dates back to May 9. Stack for list filing.
During an interview granted this Monday to RTL, Agnès Pannier-Runacher affirmed to be “completely in order with the law”. “I myself took the step of contacting the general secretariat of the government to have a strict application of the rules of the game. My spouse no longer works for me”, declared the minister who believes to be the target of attacks coming from his opponents in the elections, notably Xavier Bertrand. Some gray areas remain, however.
A relationship prior to January 2021?
In her interview with RTL, Agnès Pannier-Runacher acknowledges that Nicolas Bays continued to work for her after May 9, but on a voluntary basis. “I recall that he worked 80 hours a week and he will therefore have done two weeks working 80 hours a week for free,” she said.
In addition, Politico claims that Agnès Pannier-Runacher has been in a relationship with Nicolas Bays for much longer than they suggest. The site mentions several sources at the Ministry of the Economy as well as at the Parliament which put forward dates before January 2021, while Nicolas Bays was chief of staff of the minister since December 2020. Before that, he was political adviser since September 2020 .
“I don’t have to comment on my private life. I have never done it and I will not start doing it today. I find this brutal interest of my political opponents for my private life very disturbing, ”reacted the Minister Delegate on RTL. “It is wrong to assert that Agnès Pannier-Runacher shared the life of Nicolas Bays since the end of 2020”, for its part indicated the minister’s office.