She defended herself from all shortcomings, but was overtaken by the facts. According to the former chief of staff of Marlène Schiappa, the minister did intervene to dismiss an association of the Marianne Fund for the fight against separatism, questioned on Wednesday by a parliamentary commission. Launched on April 20, 2021 by the former Minister Delegate for Citizenship, this fund, initially endowed with 2.5 million euros, aimed to finance associations carrying speeches promoting the values of the Republic to fight against separatism.
Sébastien Jallet was heard by the Senate inquiry committee on this controversial fund, the day after the resignation of Christian Gravel, the head of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization (CIPDR), an administrative structure managing this fund at within the Ministry of the Interior.
SOS Racism in Schiappa’s conk
The project selection committee, which was held on May 22, 2021 and in which Marlène Schiappa did not participate, “has essentially validated the proposals made by the administration”, therefore by the CIPDR, assured Sébastien Jallet. The latter, however, conceded that a file had subsequently received an “unfavorable arbitration from the Minister”, without mentioning the name of the association.
According Mediapart, this is SOS Racisme. Questioned by AFP on Wednesday, its president Dominique Sopo indicated that there was no doubt. “We had learned in the spring of 2021, orally by a contact that we were going to be granted 100,000 euros. Then afterwards, more sound, more light. We did not have a subsidy, ”he said.
According to him, “the hearing of Sébastien Jallet overlaps with what we were told at the time” to explain the refusal: a personal “dispute” between him and the minister after he signed a collective forum published in a daily and initiated by the Human Rights League criticizing the so-called law “against separatism”. Sébastien Jallet, during his hearing, indeed explained this “decision of non-selection on this association” by a “questioning” of the minister by “via the press”.
Preferred treatment
When the affair on the Marianne fund broke out in several media at the end of March at the beginning of April, Marlène Schiappa had strongly defended herself from any breach. This interventionism is in contradiction with one of the conclusions of the report of the General Inspectorate of Administration (IGA) published on Tuesday. He notes that according to “testimonies”, “the Minister Delegate withdrew from the process, once the official launch had passed” on April 20.
Before the Senate, Sébastien Jallet also denied any favoritism towards the main beneficiary association, the USEPPM (Federal Union of Physical Education and Military Preparation Societies). “The USEPPM project is not a project that the firm and I went to look for,” he assured.
Mohamed Sifaoui, one of the two leaders of the USEPPM, had nevertheless assured in April that he had been encouraged to apply “by the members of Mrs. Schiappa’s cabinet and by herself”. The IGA, on Tuesday, denounced the “privileged treatment” granted by Christian Gravel to this association. The senatorial committee will hear Mohamed Sifaoui on Tuesday and Mmes Schiappa and Backès on June 14.