Emmanuel Macron and Elisabeth Borne will unveil the composition of the new government in the days to come. Will Gérald Darmanin remain at the Ministry of the Interior?
After the resignation of Jean Castex and his government, it is up to Emmanuel Macron and his Prime Minister to distribute the portfolios. Some members of the last Castex government will however be renewed. This could well be the case of Gérald Darmanin: the Minister of the Interior, in office since July 2020, is expected to stay alongside Emmanuel Macron, to whom he has become quite close. However, he is far from being a consensual figure in the presidential majority.
Emmanuel Macron has promised renewal for this second five-year term. The resignation of the Castex government is therefore an opportunity to illustrate its will. However, in the eyes of many commentators, the appointment of Elisabeth Borne to Matignon lacks freshness: the latter has been present in the government since 2017. We can therefore expect the president to make up for it on the other portfolios, by favoring new faces. What about Gérald Darmanin? According to several media sources, the Minister of the Interior may well stay.
Why could Gérald Darmanin remain Minister of the Interior?
Gérald Darmanin presented his orientation and programming bill last March, providing the main lines of the strategy of the Ministry of the Interior for the next five years concerning security. According to France Inter, the minister has every intention of being able to carry this project through to the end, which would make him a serious candidate to remain in office in the event of a reshuffle. On May 12, Ouest-France also ranked Gérald Darmanin among the ministers who “should be maintained”.
It must be said that Gérald Darmanin is a very invested figure in the Macron camp. Presented as close to the president, he was heavily involved in the presidential campaign. We remember the program “Program against program” of BFMTV, in the between-two towers: facing Jordan Bardella, lieutenant RN of Marine Le Pen, it is Gérald Darmanin who is chosen to defend the outgoing president. He then puts forward his profile as a man from the people, rare in the governments of the first Macron five-year term: from a “working family”, Gérald Darmanin marks the spirits by evoking his mother “housekeeper”. In a campaign where Macron is presented as the president of the rich, Darmanin embodies the “Monsieur Peuple”, to use the words of the World. The profile of Gérald Darmanin therefore has its usefulness alongside Emmanuel Macron.
Why would maintaining it be a problem?
However, Gérald Darmanin is far from being the most popular figure in the government. And for good reason: since 2017, he has been the subject of several complaints of sexual violence, for facts dating back to 2009. The complainant, Sophie Spatz, accuses Gérald Darmanin of rape, harassment and breach of trust. While he was in charge of the legal affairs department of the UMP, Gérald Darmanin allegedly asked for sexual favors in exchange for “services”. On September 13, 2021, the investigating judge in charge of the investigation declared the end of the investigations and did not indict Gérald Darmanin. On January 13, 2022, the Paris prosecutor’s office requests a dismissal. The current minister is the subject of another complaint, dating from 2018, filed by a resident of Tourcoing, for abuse of weakness: she accuses Gérald Darmanin of having forced her to have sex in exchange for obtaining housing. and a job in 2015, when he was mayor of Tourcoing. The investigation was also dismissed.
The appointment of Gérald Darmanin to the Ministry of the Interior, on July 6, 2020, triggered numerous criticisms, in particular from the side of feminist activists. Beyond the accusations of which Darmanin is the subject, he finds himself directing the services in charge of the investigation which targets him. Subsequently, his unconditional support for the police, his categorical refusal to speak of “police violence”, earned him as much support on the right as criticism on the left. While the appointment of Elisabeth Borne was presented by the government as an attempt to please the left-wing electorate, in view of the legislative elections, the maintenance of Gérald Darmanin, former LR, could on the contrary throw a chill within this electorate.
Is Gérald Darmanin a candidate in the legislative elections?
Thursday, May 5, the current Minister of the Interior announced his candidacy for the legislative elections: he is a candidate for the presidential majority in the 10th district of the Rhône. A decision that Gérald Darmanin announces having taken “after having spoken about it with the President of the Republic”. This candidacy in no way prevents Emmanuel Macron from reappointing Gérald Darmanin to the government: if he wins, he could very well withdraw in favor of his deputy, Vincent Ledoux, who has already replaced him in the Assembly from 2020, when he was appointed to Beauvau.