The Minister of Justice and the Secretary of the Elysee hold on to their posts despite their problems with Justice
French Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti and Elysée Palace secretary Alexis Kohler will remain in office despite their difficulties in court, as opposition parties demand that they resign. For now, the two have the support of the president, Emmanuel Macron. «On the same day, the imputation of the main aide to the Head of State and the Minister of Justice. I eagerly await the resignation calls from the deputies of the relative majority” (Macron’s party and its allies), Olivier Faure, First Secretary of the Socialist Party, wrote ironically on Twitter.
Dupond-Moretti will be prosecuted for “conflicts of interest” by the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only one competent to try members of the Gallic government for acts committed in the performance of their duties. The minister is accused of using his position to settle accounts with magistrates with whom he had clashed in the past when he was a famous criminal defense lawyer, according to the complaint filed against him by the two main unions of magistrates.
The Minister of Justice, who learned yesterday that he will be tried by the CJR, believes that his resignation is “not on the agenda”. “I got my legitimacy from the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister (Elisabeth Borne). She has once again expressed her confidence in me,” said Dupond-Moretti, who believes the fact that he will be tried “will not hinder his work as a minister”.
On the other hand, Kohler, Macron’s right-hand man, was also charged yesterday with a “conflict of interest” over his family and professional ties to the naval giant Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). The Elysée secretary approved contracts between MSC and the Port of Havre in 2010 and 2011 without disclosing his family ties to the company. This Italian-Swiss shipowner was founded and run by his mother’s cousins. At the time, Kohler was a state representative on the board of directors of the company that manages the Port of Havre.
“Will (Macron) keep someone suspected of a conflict of interest in such a sensitive position (Secretary General of the Elysium)?” asked far-right Marine Le Pen, who believes Kohler “shouldn’t be in that position.” Mathilde Panot, leader of the deputies of La Francia Insumisa, called for “Macron’s protégé” (Kohler) to be “responsible”, while ecofeminist Sandrine Rousseau demanded Dupond-Moretti’s resignation. Rousseau believes that the minister not only has problems with justice, but is also incompetent.
In 2017, Macron, then a young presidential candidate, believed that if a minister was ousted, he should resign. But now he supports Dupond-Moretti and Kohler. The leather has changed. “If a minister is convicted, he must leave the government,” the minister of public accounts, Gabriel Attal, settled the debate yesterday.
Source: La Verdad
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