The Minister of Justice and the secretary of the Elysee cling to their posts despite their problems with the Justice
French Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti and Elysée Palace Secretary Alexis Kohler are holding on to their posts, despite their troubles in court, as opposition parties demand they resign. For now, the two have the backing of the president, Emmanuel Macron. «On the same day, the imputation of the main collaborator of the head of state and the Minister of Justice. I eagerly await the calls for resignation by the deputies of the relative majority »(Macron’s party and his allies), Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party, wryly wrote on Twitter.
Dupond-Moretti will be prosecuted for “conflicts of interest” by the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only one competent to judge members of the Gallic Government for acts committed in the exercise of their functions. The minister is accused of using his position to allegedly settle accounts with magistrates with whom he had clashed in the past when he was a famous criminal lawyer, according to the complaint filed by the two main magistrates’ unions against him.
The Minister of Justice, who learned yesterday that he will be tried by the CJR, considers that his resignation “is not on the agenda.” “I have my legitimacy from the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister (Elisabeth Borne). She has reiterated her trust in me”, said Dupond-Moretti, who believes that the fact that he is going to be tried “does not hinder” his work as a minister.
On the other hand, Kohler, Macron’s right-hand man, was also charged yesterday with a “conflict of interest” due to his family and professional ties with the naval giant Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). The secretary of the Elysee approved in 2010 and 2011 contracts between MSC and the port of Havre without making public his family ties with the company. This Italian-Swiss shipowner is founded and run by his mother’s cousins. At that time, Kohler was a state representative on the board of directors of the company that manages the port of Havre.
Let them be “accountable”
“Does (Macron) want to keep someone suspected of a conflict of interest in such a sensitive position (Secretary General of the Elysium)?” Asked the far-right Marine Le Pen, who believes that Kohler “should not be in that position.” Mathilde Panot, leader of the deputies of La Francia Insumisa, called for “Macron’s protégé” (Kohler) to be “accountable”, while the ecofeminist Sandrine Rousseau demanded the resignation of Dupond-Moretti. Rousseau believes that the minister not only has problems with the Justice, but is also incompetent.
In 2017, Macron, then a young presidential candidate, considered that if a minister was impeached, he should resign. Now, though, he’s backing Dupond-Moretti and Kohler. The doctrine has changed. “When a minister is convicted, he must leave the Government,” the Minister of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, settled the debate yesterday.
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