From housing to discrimination. The former Minister of Housing was appointed Wednesday Interministerial Delegate for the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and anti-LGBT hatred (Dilcrah). Olivier Klein will take office on September 1 at the head of this organization attached to Matignon, where he succeeds Sophie Elizéon.
Olivier Klein, 56, left his post as housing minister in July. Remained only twelve months at the head of the ministry, he had striven to make his area of expertise exist, a potential “social bomb” in the eyes of Bercy and the Elysée. “The subject of discrimination has been at the heart of my associative and political commitment for nearly 40 years, and the fight against discrimination linked to origin or sexual orientation seems to me extremely important in the period to come”, he said. he assured on Wednesday.
From the Communist Party to Macronism
First a member of the Communist Party, this professor of physics and chemistry joined the PS in 2006 before being elected in 2011 mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois, an underprivileged town in Seine-Saint-Denis at the heart of the urban violence of 2005. He himself grew up in the Chêne Pointu district, regularly presented as one of the most degraded condominiums in France.
At the head of the Dilcrah “there are two roadmaps: one on the fight against discrimination linked to origin, the other on discrimination against LGBT people. These two roadmaps are already ready, we will have to bring them to life, ”assured AFP the new interministerial delegate.
The question of “lower-income neighborhoods”
“Testing is one of the things announced in the Neighborhoods 2030 plan” initiated by President Emmanuel Macron at the end of June in Marseille, he added, underlining his “sensitivity on the issue of working-class neighborhoods and the discrimination that may be experienced their inhabitants.
“All of this will be at the heart of my action,” he promised. After fifteen years in the socialist camp, Olivier Klein came closer and then supported Emmanuel Macron. He also led the board of directors of the National Agency for Urban Renewal (Anru) between 2017 and 2022 and was vice-president of the Métropole du Grand Paris, delegate for housing and diversity.