Gérald Darmanin in Nantes on May 20, 2021. – Franck Dubray-POOL / SIPA
- After threatening to file a complaint against Audrey Pulvar for his comments about the police, Gerald Darmanin finally proposed a meeting with the socialist candidate.
- This change of foot comes as behind the scenes, many members of the majority have expressed their annoyance, deeming the threat raised by the Minister of the Interior excessive.
- The leader of LREM deputies Christophe Castaner welcomed this Wednesday the “appeasement” necessary between Gérald Darmanin and Audrey Pulvar, while distancing himself from the minister.
Gérald Darmanin is used to flashes of brilliance, but his latest aroused annoyance among the walkers. By threatening to file a complaint against the socialist Audrey Pulvar for her comments on the police, the Minister of the Interior drew criticism from parliamentarians of The Republic in motion and even from some of his colleagues in the government. If he ended up back pedaling by proposing a meeting at the head of the Socialist Party list for the regional in Ile-de-France, the right-wing defector did not quite calm the controversy, on the eve of a new round table of the “Beauvau de la sécurité” scheduled for Thursday on relations between the police and the justice system.
Critics including within the government
“I offered her two dates next week, I hope she can make herself available. Otherwise I will suggest others, ”he confirmed on Wednesday. in front of the senators. This change of foot would be due to the many reactions within the majority and government.
In public, the minister had not received much support within his camp. The Minister of Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, even allowed herself a tackle. “The political debate can live without going through the courts. We are in a country of law, in a country of freedom, and freedom is also freedom of expression, ”she said on Tuesday. on Europe 1.
Mixture of genres and “shocked” LREM deputies
Behind the scenes, criticism has multiplied. “Almost all of the deputies were shocked,” assures a walker. At LREM, it was the mix of genres that was most annoying. “As minister in charge of the elections, he cannot attack a candidate in this way, it is a question of respect for the institutions”, affirms Sacha Houlié, LREM deputy from Vienna. “Using her function to initiate proceedings against a candidate is the limit not to be crossed, especially since Minister Marlène Schiappa is also a candidate for the regional against the list of Audrey Pulvar”, denounces another walker .
“Not to mention that from a strategic point of view, it is rather unwelcome to put a candidate back into the game whose voting intentions are rather low “, Continues Sacha Houlié, judging the threat to file a complaint against Audrey Pulvar” useless and stupid “. The spokesperson for LREM deputies Sylvain Maillard also indicated on Tuesday evening
on LCP that his colleagues wanted this complaint to be “withdrawn”.
Castaner distances himself
This Wednesday, the predecessor of Gerald Darmanin in Beauvau, the former socialist Christophe Castaner, also distanced himself from the Minister of the Interior. “As Minister of the Interior, I do not believe that I would have been demonstrating in front of the National Assembly […]. Especially, and the facts have shown it, when it was a question of implicating, basically, [la relation] police-justice ”, declared the president of the LREM group to the Assembly on France Info.
The walkers seem relieved on Wednesday by the backpedaling of the minister. “Darmanin understood that this stigma of Pulvar was not a good thing and he changed his mind. I am satisfied with the landing of this controversy, ”said Jacques Maire, LREM deputy for Hauts-de-Seine. “There was a time when it would have cost him his place in government, blows a majority parliamentarian. But the left is structurally too weak to get his resignation. A boon for the majority.