By confusing two elected officials, Gérald Darmanin’s chief of staff seems to have revealed an attempted bargain between the Minister of the Interior and a right-wing elected official who would have been contacted to ask him to vote in favor of the immigration law in exchange for the allocation of gendarmerie brigades. Information confirmed by the socialist deputy Philippe Brun who would have been confused with his right-wing namesake Fabrice Brun. The head of LFI deputies Mathilde Panot took the matter to court this Tuesday, December 12, “on facts that could be compared to corruption of elected officials” by the Minister of the Interior. Gérald Darmanin responded by announcing a complaint in return. Reactions to the National Assembly.
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A controversy that the politically weakened Minister of the Interior would undoubtedly have preferred to avoid. If the environmentalists are calling for a parliamentary commission of inquiry to provide full transparency on what they consider to be a “state scandal”, the Insoumis have contacted the public prosecutor.
“ I find it amazing that this is not the central subject as long as we are not talking about corruption which is punishable by article 433-1 of the Penal Code, 10 years of imprisonment, 10,000 fine euros and again there are aggravating circumstances when it is committed by an organized gang which seems to be the case since we are told that their team worked to do this. I don’t understand why this isn’t the central topic. So Mr. Darmanin files a complaint against me. I point out that I have not filed a complaint against Mr. Darmanin but that I am contacting the public prosecutor to find out if there is grounds for an investigation. I think it’s abnormal and that probably means he has something to reproach himself for… », declares Antoine Léaument.
For the National Rally (RN) this practice, if proven, would be serious: “ Tampering, bargaining, blackmail, lies. This is not how you pass such an important law. It is a sad vision of the Republic. I think it’s taking the future of the French as secondary to his own little particular interest. Mr. Darmanin, if he really did that, played it personally. He wanted to put himself forward, pass a bad bill at all costs, apparently quit and we will see if it is true to buy votes », Declares RN deputy Laurent Jacobelli.
For another MP close to Marine Le Pen, these accusations have no chance of succeeding, because they are extremely difficult to prove.
The majority, however, do not lose their temper. For Frédéric Descrozailles, Renaissance deputy, these accusations are fanciful: “ I have colleagues who jump at the slightest opportunity to argue, to challenge, to take the sword. I think we need appeasement. That there are constant discussions, we all sometimes address the government saying “I have such a problem in such and such a place, I would like to be able to access such and such an administration, such and such a decentralized service”, but that is not haggling after that based on votes. So, to make the link between the contacts, the requests that there are and then, it is something that is fundamentally shameful. »
Beauvau tried to defuse the controversy by emphasizing that the minister’s office was used to responding to requests from parliamentarians. As was the case for MP Fabrice Brun regarding his gendarmerie brigade.
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