This Saturday marks the start of the installation of municipal councils in the 30,000 or so municipalities where a mayor was elected in the first round, at the start of the coronavirus crisis. And among the city officials is a very special case: that of Gérald Darmanin, Minister of Action and Public Accounts, re-elected in "his" city of Tourcoing and who is about to combine his functions. An exception that the executive did not envisage a few months ago.
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"Might wait" for the next reshuffle
But the epidemic and the containment went through there. To the point that the minister's result went almost unnoticed on March 15, a few hours before the announcement of the country's confinement. However, Gérard Darmanin was re-elected hands down in Tourcoing, with more than 60% of the votes. So 10 days ago, when he saw the head of state to tell him that he intended to become mayor again, Emmanuel Macron "authorized him to remain minister at least for a time", confides Gérald Darmanin.
It is not necessarily a question that this situation continues until the end of the five-year term, but in any case excluded from making a "pearl reshuffle", slips a minister. "You might as well wait until there is one if there is one," she adds.
One of the rare successes of Macronie in municipal elections
This combination of mayor and minister is not prohibited, but it has not been done since the Jospin years, even if Gérald Darmanin already occupied the two positions for several months at the start of the quinquennium. As of Saturday morning, he will therefore accumulate again, but "without taking the least euro of remuneration as mayor", he confides. A situation tolerated by the President of the Republic also, no doubt, because the victory of the Minister is one of the rare successes of Macronie at the municipal level, a fortiori in a popular city.