A reference to his Algerian rifleman grandfather, during the transfer of power with his successor at the Interior Ministry, earned Gérald Darmanin strong criticism from part of the opposition. Jordan Bardella deplores an “insult to France”.
A new era is dawning in Beauvau. This Monday, September 23, saw the transfer of power between Gérald Darmanin, the Interior Minister who resigned weeks ago, and his successor, the former head of the LR senators, Bruno Retailleau. After four years as France’s top cop, the man who will return to the benches of the National Assembly as deputy for the 10th constituency of the North took the opportunity to thank all the police officers, gendarmes, and firefighters in the country. “I am leaving loving you, and I am taking this love with me. I am leaving having suffered with you,” he declared mid-morning.
While the Valenciennes native defended his record, he also acknowledged having “made mistakes”, assuring that “the security of the French must be further strengthened, and the police and gendarmes better protected”. But one statement by the former Minister of the Interior particularly caught the attention, as it concerns him intimately. At the end of his speech, Gérald Darmanin spoke not without emotion about his origins as “the double grandson of an immigrant”, making a fairly clear implication about everyone’s chances of succeeding in France depending on their origins: “My name is Gérald Moussa Jean Darmanin. My father, at the maternity hospital in Valenciennes, wanted to write ‘Moussa Darmanin’, after my grandfather, an Algerian rifleman who had served France (…) It is quite obvious if we are honest, that if I had been called Moussa Darmanin, I would not have been elected mayor and MP, and I probably would not have been Minister of the Interior in the first place (sic)”, he declared.
Gérald Darmanin alludes, quite clearly, to the difficulties of social elevation for people from immigrant backgrounds, within French society. This sentence from the former tenant of Beauvau did not fail to make some elected officials of La France insoumise (LFI) react. Surprised, the deputy of the 1st constituency of Vaucluse, Raphaël Arnault, reacted on X this Monday by highlighting possible connections between Gérald Darmanin and the extreme right: “Ah no, I really wasn’t ready. After having served as a launching pad for the RN, is it now that he discovers that there is racism in France? Did he fall out with Emmanuel Macron? We are entitled to have further explanations.”
“Who does he consider racist?” asks Jordan Bardella
In the ranks of La France insoumise, the elected representative from Vaucluse is not the only one to have been outraged by Gérald Darmanin’s remarks. Ersilia Soudais, LFI deputy for the 7th constituency of Seine-et-Marne also spoke out, again on X : “If your name had been Moussa, you might not have supported the murder of Nahel,” she reacted, in reference to the death of young Nahel Merzouk, 17, killed at point-blank range by a police officer after refusing to comply in Nanterre, on June 27, 2023. In this case, the police officer who shot the young boy is being charged with voluntary manslaughter.
Still on the social network Xthe president of the National Rally and European deputy Jordan Bardella denounces insulting remarks: “It would be interesting if Gérald Darmanin explained his remarks. Who does he consider racist: the inhabitants of Tourcoing, the members of the police institution, the French in general? This statement is an insult to France, which has given him everything and which gives a chance to all those who respect it,” he wrote.