Marlène Schiappa has been Minister responsible for Citizenship since July 2020. – Raphael Lafargue-POOL / SIPA
The Minister Delegate for Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, estimated this Sunday that “if ministers or deputies” participated in clandestine dinners in Paris, as stated in a report by M6, “they must be penalized as n ‘any citizen’. The Paris police headquarters then said it had opened an investigation to verify the facts reported in this report, at the request of the Minister of the Interior.
Guest of Great meeting Europe1 /The echoes/ Cnews, Marlène Schiappa reacted to a report by M6 assuring that ministers, not named, had participated in luxury clandestine dinners in the capital, in defiance of the bans enacted by the executive to curb the spread of Covid-19. “Following the M6 report, I asked the Paris police prefect to verify the accuracy of the reported facts in order, if they are verified, to prosecute the organizers and participants of these dinners”, tweeted Gerald Darmanin in the middle of the afternoon.
“All ministers, without exception, respect the rule”
M6 broadcast a report on a hidden camera in a place presented as “an underground restaurant located in the beautiful districts”, where the participants and the waiters do not wear masks and do not respect barrier gestures. The channel also obtained images of a paid evening, where dozens of guests appear without masks, some kissing each other. One of the organizers interviewed, presented as a “collector”, affirms in disguised voice-over: “I had dinner this week in two or three restaurants which are supposedly underground restaurants, with a certain number of ministers. So that makes me laugh softly. We are in a democracy. We do what we want. “
The controversy was widely relayed on social networks, especially under the word sharp #WantNames, on Twitter. The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, reacted to the Grand Jury RTL-LCI-Le Figaro, in response to a question on this report: “There is no privilege for anyone and I would be curious that this restaurateur would give the names of the ministers if he is so well informed. “” All the ministers, without exception, respect the rule, no one believes they have the right to any privilege whatsoever, “insisted Bruno Le Maire.