What role does Karine Le Marchand play precisely within the regional council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur? A few days after announcing to become an “ambassador for agriculture and eco-responsibility”, the host of Love is in the meadow found himself at the heart of a controversy after having requested a grant of 117,000 euros to renovate his recently acquired property in Aix-en-Provence. 20 minutes make the point.
What does Karine Le Marchand’s role in the region consist of?
October 5, on his Instagram account, Karine Le Marchand said she was “happy and honored to announce [sa] appointment of ambassador for the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region for agriculture and eco-responsibility ”. A role which, according to her, consisted in “being able to concretely defend the interests of farmers who [lui] are expensive, offer ideas and concrete actions to advance the fight against global warming ”. And to affirm: “I wish to act, it is not a question of political commitment. Eco-responsibility is a path. I will be happy to show it to those who want to get involved, who don’t know how to do it, and who want to learn. “
On the side of the regional council, the speech is slightly different. “An ambassador is like an influencer,” says one in the entourage of Renaud Muselier, the president (LR) of the Paca region. Karine Le Marchand has a lot of subscribers on her Facebook and Instagram accounts. It will advertise in quotation marks the measures put in place by the region in terms of agriculture and eco-responsibility. “
And to clarify: “For the next Agricultural Show, for example, we are going to do an operation with her. It will relay the devices that we put in place. “A function which, according to this same source, is the subject of a” contract “, concluded between Karine Le Marchand and” an external influencer agency “, all on behalf of the region. “We signed a contract with it for 2021, and we are in negotiations for 2022”, specifies this source close to Renaud Muselier.
How much does it cost ?
Asked about the subject, the entourage of Renaud Muselier refuses to communicate the exact amount of the contract: “Just as we buy advertising space in the regional or national daily press, we set up communication operations like that here, and we are not in the habit of communicating the amounts of our media plans. “
In a press release sent at the end of last week, the ecologists, who had withdrawn in the interval for the benefit of Renaud Muselier to block the National Assembly, said they hoped “that this mandate of ambassador is a volunteer mandate and is not remunerated ”. “It’s strange to refuse to communicate this amount, deplores Nathalie Morand, spokesperson for EELV in Paca. Almost 40% of our high schools are energy strainers. In terms of public money management, where is the priority? “Overall, I find it perfectly useless, criticizes Franck Allisio, vice-president of the RN group at the regional council. Renaud Muselier simply bought the photo with the popular Karine Le Marchand. He wanted to make a little buzz to put himself forward. But I don’t think we are selling a region like that. “
Is there a link with the facilitator’s grant application?
According to information from Marsactu, the regional council was initially to vote Thursday the granting of a subsidy of 117,000 euros for the benefit of the production company of Karine Le Marchand, Potiche Prod. The facilitator had in fact asked the community to renovate through this means her house recently acquired in Aix-en-Provence, which she wishes to make an “educational demonstrator of energy renovation”. A request that she withdrew on Monday in view, in her terms, of the “bad buzz” caused by this story.
Questioned by our colleagues from Marsactu, Karine Le Marchand specifies that she became ambassador to the Paca region after having “talked a lot” with the services of the regional council and “proposed [son] project “. To announce what she called her “appointment”, on October 5, Karine Le Marchand posted on social networks a photo of her alongside Renaud Muselier, as well as a photo of a house, geolocated in Aix-en-Provence.
“She came first out of courtesy to meet Renaud Muselier,” says 20 minutes one close to the president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region. She also came to talk about her project. “” There is obviously a cause and effect link between this history of subsidy and this role of ambassador, accuses Franck Allisio. They wanted to help a friend, which maintains a certain ambiguity about the largesse that the executive can show. “
For its part, Renaud Muselier’s entourage denies any link between this new role of ambassador and this request for subsidies, which occurred a few days apart. “When she came to meet Renaud Muselier, the subsidy was already in the pipeline, and the contract as an influencer was signed,” said the same source. In the deliberation which was to be initially voted and that 20 minutes obtained, Karine Le Marchand, designated by her birth name, is presented not as “ambassador”, but as “manager” of the company Potiche Prod.