He is now mayor of Le Havre and president of the Horizons party. But Edouard Philippe was previously prime minister from the spring of 2017 to the summer of 2020. A crucial period for the first outbreak of Covid-19 in France. A conjunction that has earned him the right to be summoned today in the framework of the procedure carried out by the Court of Justice of the Republic regarding the management of this health crisis by public authorities.
Edouard Philippe is thus placed under the status of assisted witness –intermediate between that of a simple witness and that of erroneous interrogation– for endangering the lives of others and deliberately hindering the fight against a disaster.
“I’m not looking to turn on anyone”
Guests this Wednesday 4 truthsIn France 2, the former head of government insisted on denying these suspicions, while stressing his desire to collaborate in the investigation.
“Political leaders, parliamentarians, members of a government, are not above the law. It is not strange that, in case they commit acts contrary to the law, they are held accountable”, introduced Edouard Philippe.
“I do not seek to escape from the questions that are made of me, I do not seek to divest myself of anyone. I was the head of government, I take on all the responsibilities that all members of my government take on,” she added.
“That’s a boss”
“That is being a leader. A leader does not discard his subordinates, never ”, even the mayor of Le Havre insisted.
“My objective is not at all to show that we have done everything well, no country has done everything well, no political leader”, he had explained before, before maintaining: “What I am saying is that neither for Agnès Buzyn, nor for Olivier You see, neither for me nor for any of our collaborators, there is no crime.”
All in his declared desire to act as a “leader” and not “discard” at lower levels, Edouard Philippe underlined:
“There are a series of complaints that have been filed, the magistrates are investigating, and my goal is to ensure that everyone who was under my authority – members of my government, collaborators in my cabinet – and those in the administration have done everything possible to be acquitted of the charges against them.
Agnes Buzyn “is right”
However, one of his former ministers is particularly bad. The former head of the Health portfolio, Agnès Buzyn, was thus charged by this same Court of Justice of the Republic for endangering the lives of other people on September 10. Last week, she also confided in the World his feeling of being the victim of a “profound injustice” and of not “having been heard” at the time.
“He’s right. It’s very unfair,” reacted Edouard Philippe, who discharged him for having “taken this crisis very seriously from the beginning.” “And he’s right when he says that he probably saw before a lot of people what was probably going to happen,” he continued.
Edouard Philippe, for his part, dismissed any idea of negligence: “And when I was prime minister and she was minister, every time she mentioned a decision, she implemented it.”
Source: BFM TV
