Barely his junior appointed to Matignon, Gérald Darmanin affirmed that he had no intention of “shirking” his responsibilities at the Interior for “any personal future”.
Disappointment for Gérald Darmanin? The name of the Minister of the Interior was circulated for a while to take over from Elisabeth Borne at Matignon. But it was ultimately on the young Gabriel Attal that Emmanuel Macron made his choice. And this, according to the information from LCI, despite Darmanin’s efforts to get in the way of the Minister of National Education. If the tenant of Place Beauvau soberly wished “full success” to his younger brother on X, a short sentence that he uttered shortly after this appointment raises questions.
Gabriel Attal was barely appointed on Tuesday January 9 when Gérald Darmanin was invited to comment on his own future within the government. He, to whom some media attributed ambitions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, affirmed, during a trip to Levallois-Perret, that he had “not completed his mission” at the Interior. “I am not the man to shy away from the gendarmes, the police, the prefects, who, 100 days before the torch relay and 200 days before the Olympic Games, are going to risk their lives and put their reputation at stake,” he told the press.
“Where I come from…”
“Afterwards, it is up to the President of the Republic to dispose of the ministerial positions, I am at his disposal”, nuanced Gérald Darmanin. “But I want to tell the police and gendarmes that I am not in the habit of counting on any personal future when I put them on a path,” he continued.
A barely disguised dig at the ambitious Gabriel Attal? The new head of government is leaving the Ministry of National Education after less than six months in office, just a few weeks after announcing a profound reform of middle schools. “And you know, where I come from, we like to finish what we do,” added the Minister of the Interior. A new way of recalling, as he likes to do, his modest social origins, the polar opposite of those of the new Prime Minister.