ON DECRYPT
François de Rugy is in trouble. Wednesday morning, Mediapart said that the Minister of Ecological Transition had, when he was President of the National Assembly, organized several sumptuous dinners at the hotel in Lassay, via public funds. After the publication of this article, photos in support, the minister said "assume" these dinners. But if he keeps the "confidence" of Emmanuel Macron, dixit spokesman of the government, the former ecologist is very strongly criticized by the opposition. Europe 1 takes stock of this controversy which embarrasses the minister and the executive as a whole.
What is in the Mediapart article?
Mediapart's article appears around 8 o'clock. Its title: "The castle life on public funds of the husband and wife of Rugy". With several photos in support, the site of investigation ensures that François de Rugy and his wife have multiplied "at the expense of the Republic, sumptuous feasts with friends worthy of great state dinners". Mediapart lists a dozen private dinners, bringing together 10 to 30 participants, organized between October 2017 and June 2018 in the lounges of the Lassay hotel, the official residence of the President of the National Assembly. We see lobsters, champagne, great wines from the cellars of the National Assembly and worth some hundreds of euros.
How does the minister defend himself?
In Mediapart, François de Rugy explained that these were "informal dinners linked to the performance of his duties". Throughout the day, he then hammered that these meetings were part of a representation task, where he met with personalities from civil society, big bosses, intellectuals, artists ... it was a way of "keeping in touch with society". He denies having organized dinners "people" but speaks instead of a dozen "working dinners" in a few months.
François de Rugy reacted in particular to the publication of photos of a Valentine's Day party, where the minister appears at a table dotted with rose petals: "I find it rather anecdotal. that there were petals of roses on a white tablecloth, it was an inconvenient thing, a dinner for two in the sitting room on the ground floor of the Assembly instead of being in the dining room the first floor of the Assembly, it did not cost the National Assembly one euro. "
What is the attitude of the opposition?
Unsurprisingly, the opposition has criticized the organization of these meetings, which she deems opaque, as the ostentation of the menus. "I thank the ecologist of castles for the advice of virtue and exemplary that he conferred on us as President of the Assembly," Tossed the Insoumis Adrien Quatennens. "While he was eating big lobster drizzled with good wine, I was busy scanning my receipts from the pizzeria across the street." "Very angry", MP LR Julien Aubert asked "transparency on professional expenses" of François de Rugy, evoking his "tartuferie".
MP Delphine Batho has asked for the resignation of the minister. "The public money is not made to organize glitzy private dinners", denounced the former Minister of Ecology François Hollande. "We are on a riot of means for dinners with friends he describes as informal.It is not representation and many of those who have held public office have never had this type of practice at the expense of the National Assembly and the State, "she said.
How do the government and the majority react?
At the end of the Council of Ministers, Sibeth Ndiaye, the spokesman for the government, said that François de Rugy retained the confidence of the President and the Prime Minister. Officially, therefore, there is no question of a resignation. But this controversy disturbs some members of the government team, who explain to Europe 1 that these photos were known for a long time. "Why are they going out today?", Wonders one. On Wednesday, the Minister presented with his Secretary of State, Brune Poirson, a law on the circular economy and the fight against waste. The timing of this case is therefore one of the outstanding issues after the publication of the Mediapart article.
A large part of the majority has, logically, defended the minister. But in the ranks of Macronie, some were not very friendly with this behavior. "It's scandalous this story is precisely what we have been criticized for the yellow jackets!" This risks to accredit the idea that ministers are full of aces and gorges themselves by taking advantage of public money. "is very heavy", plague with the World a framework of LREM, for which the minister can "hardly remain" in function.