Every morning, Laurent Joffrin has carte blanche to shed light on a subject that has marked him in the news.
"Three dinners litigious, or irregular, a repair of housing a function a little too expensive, even if repairs are expensive in historic buildings.The media mountain gives birth to a big mouse.White Rugy? Not quite, contrary to what the critics of the press claim, who nevertheless read it with avidity and draw noisy philippines when the cases brought to light touch their neighbors.
"The real danger goes beyond the case of Rugy the inconsistent"
The minister was clumsy at least, if not at fault. Evolving in a gray area, that of the running costs of elected officials, and having himself administered virulent lessons of transparency, he has chosen several times, knowingly to interpret to his advantage the uncertainties of the rule. A basic precautionary principle commanded him, however, in this anti-elite atmosphere, to play low profile and to affect more austerity. The bling-bling, would it be legal, does not pass in the opinion.
He has himself confessed "errors", which should dry up the controversy over the merits of the criticisms that are made to him. Minor hubris, which he pays at the price of a resignation. For the rest, according as one prefers Robespierre or Danton, one will draw a pitiless or nuanced judgment. On a personal note, Danton, who was not lukewarm - he overthrew the king and created the Revolutionary Tribunal - but who ended up being disgusted by the sound of the falling heads, until his own joined the basket. And yet, in these days of yellow vests, the Robespierre style, with or without whiskers, is better worn ...
"Several countries have already set the example: it is enough to be inspired to perfect a control device already tightened"
The real danger goes beyond the case of Rugy the inconsequential. It lies in the summary, indistinct and vindictive questioning of the political class as a whole, which we detect behind the virtuous indictments dispensed here and there. Certainly, the operating costs of the ministries and the Assembly must be more clearly regulated in order to clarify the yellow lines that must not be crossed. There is nothing special about this task: the scarcity of official housing, the use of which must be justified by precise imperatives, far-off homes or obvious security constraints, clear pricing of the cost of meals and the reduction of domestic facilities granted to ministers.
Several countries have already set the example: it is enough to be inspired to perfect a control device already tightened, even if some meshes are too loose. But at the same time, it is important to reiterate that there is nothing scandalous about paying governors and legislators as senior executives of SMEs and facilitating their work with sufficient material conditions. Bringing them to dry bread would mean removing skills and increasing corruption attempts. One would think to clean up the democracy. It would only weaken it. "