Has the president’s opinion changed in a few years? Like others before him, Emmanuel Macron’s government is not exempt from court cases. These cases experienced new twists on Monday, with the dismissal of the Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, before the Court of Justice of the Republic and the accusation of the secretary general of the Elysee, Alexis Kohler.
Although the executive excludes for the moment any resignation of the two men, this has not always been the position of Emmanuel Macron. During the campaign for the 2017 presidential election, he told France 2 that if he were impeached, he would give up being a presidential candidate, “in the same way that a minister must leave the government when he ‘is impeached’.
This March 2, 2017 statement was made in the context of the Fillon case. At this time, the revelations about the suspicions of fictitious employment of Pénélope Fillon follow one another from the first article of the chained duckend of January.
Asked about this case, the candidate Emmanuel Macron believes that “what is happening is bad for French political life in general and for the rule of law in France.”
“As regards substance, which refers to justice, this refers to François Fillon and his judges”, but “as far as our democratic life is concerned, the French will judge”, he continues.
François Fillon is also charged on March 14, 2017, a few days after this interview, for embezzlement of public funds, among others. In May, the Paris Court of Appeal sentenced him to four years in prison, including one, and announced that he would appeal to the Court of Cassation.
A doctrine that varies according to the accused
Deploring a campaign peppered with “searches, cases, etc.”, Emmanuel affirmed in 2017 that “reaching the presidency is being the guarantor of the institutions”, the one “that guarantees the dignity of our public life”.
“Do you think it’s possible when you yourself have problems?” asks the future leader.
Since that streak, his position has changed. He first applied this principle to François Bayrou. In 2017, when they had just been appointed to the first government of Édouard Philippe, the head of the Modem and Minister of Justice François Bayrou and two of his relatives – Sylvie Goulard (Minister of Defense) and Marielle de Sarnez, (Minister of European Affairs Affairs) – are involved in the case of parliamentary assistants in the European Parliament.
They resign a few weeks later, although they have not yet been charged, it will happen two years later.
ask for resignation
Éric Dupond-Moretti was accused in July 2021 of illegally obtaining interest. The Keeper of the Seals is accused of having taken advantage of his position to settle accounts with magistrates whom he had opposed when he was a lawyer, which he refutes. However, he was re-elected to his post for Emmanuel Macron’s new five-year term in 2022.
“Elisabeth Borne reaffirmed all the confidence she had in me yesterday,” she announced on Tuesday to the microphone of BFMTV, stating that the “file” of the instruction was “empty.”
Alexis Kohler has also been accused of illegal taking of interests, as part of an investigation into a possible conflict of interest between his public service positions and his links with the Italian-Swiss shipowner Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), founded and directed by his mother. cousins, the Aponte family. The Elysee announced Monday that he remains in office.
For several members of the opposition, these cases require the resignation of the people involved. The leader of the LR deputies, Olivier Marleix, for example dear this monday that keeping Alexis Kohler in the Elysee is “an insult to the judicial institution”.
Source: BFM TV
