According to several media, Nicolas Sarkozy’s former Minister of Justice is expected to join Gabriel Attal’s government, thus undoubtedly constituting the biggest surprise of this reshuffle.
Gérald Darmanin confirmed at the Interior, Éric Dupond-Moretti who remains at Justice, Sébastien Lecornu maintained at the Ministry of the Armed Forces. While at the end of this afternoon Emmanuel Macron’s old guard seemed to confirm that he would remain in place, a first surprise was finally mentioned: Rachida Dati would be in the process of being appointed to Culture. In any case, this is what was said at 6 p.m. Europe 1 and BFMTV. Information that also seemed confirmed The Parisian who mentioned “advanced discussions” with Nicolas Sarkozy’s former Minister of Justice and current Les Républicains mayor of the very chic 7th arrondissement of Paris.
If the appointment of Rachida Dati to Culture has, at this stage, not been officially announced by the Élysée, the figure of the right and the Republicans had summoned at 6 p.m. this Thursday, all the Paris advisors of his “Changer Paris” group for a videoconference. The opportunity, according to district mayors Parisianto announce her appointment and reassure her troops: “The only thing is that I want to keep the confidence of the LR group”, she is said to have declared, before adding: “I am going to stay with Les Républicains and I resigns from the National Council.”
A great take and reviews
The appointment of Rachida Dati would in any case constitute a great gain for the Macron camp. However, nothing seemed to predestine the former Minister of Justice to join the government of Gabriel Attal. And even less to Culture, Rachida Dati having never before been identified as a figure of this world. Likewise, in the event of nomination, Rachida Dati would initially have to take responsibility for the many harsh sentences she has made against the presidential camp in recent years. Furthermore, his appointment could be complicated by his indictment in the Carlos Ghosn affair. Remember that Rachida Dati is indicted for “passive corruption”, “passive influence peddling” and “concealment of abuse of power”, even if, for her part, she has always denied any irregularity and denounces an instrumentalization of the justice.
It is also on this point that the criticism was quick to come this Thursday evening. “Betrayal and indictment for corruption, all the criteria were met to join a government which highlighted the exemplary Republic”, tackled the socialist Olivier Faure on X. And the ecologist Julien Bayou added in this sense: “ Rachida Dati is appointed Minister of Culture. Rachida Dati has been indicted since July 2021 for ‘corruption and passive influence peddling by a person invested with a public elective mandate’.