Paris (AFP)

Dispatched in September to succeed the hired and tormented Nicolas Hulot, François de Rugy imposed on Ecology a style more political, pragmatic and policed, with the ambition to last in the "ministry of the impossible".

"I am here to act for ecology with method, determination and perseverance in time," he had launched when he took office at the Ministry, just down the perch of the National Assembly.

Time is precisely what has missed the recent holders of this portfolio, often left before having been able to print their mark, like Nicolas Hulot but also before him by Delphine Batho or Nicole Bricq.

Will Rugy have more? He is keeping the confidence of the government for the time being, but appears suspended after the turmoil caused by several articles of Mediapart since Wednesday.

The newspaper first pinpointed its sumptuous dinners at the Hôtel de Lassay when he presided over the assembly, bringing together guests who were mainly from the social and friendly circle of his wife, Séverine de Rugy, a journalist with Gala magazine.

Then a housing HLM unduly occupied by his director of cabinet, which was immediately dismissed by the minister. And finally work done in the official apartment of the ministry, works that François de Rugy justified on Twitter by the need to renovate "regularly" the Hotel de Roquelaure.

This hot summer begins with a hitherto rather discreet exercise of this minister, generally described by environmental NGOs as lacking in vision but paradoxically easier to access than his predecessor, though from the militant world.

- Reform ecology -

Regarding the records of his first year as minister, from the French energy roadmap to the suspension of the increase in the carbon tax, via the circular economy, hunting, the reintroduction of bears or the management of wolves, they have often inherited them from the beginning of five years Macron and were for some sliced ​​in the high place in the sensitive context of "yellow vests".

On the climate issue, back at the top of the agenda thanks to successive demonstrations of citizens, high school students or activists like those of Extinction Rebellion, but also the record petition of the "Case of the century" and the European, he seemed to suffer more than to accompany him.

François de Rugy, however, ardently defends the creation of a "citizen convention" composed of 150 people drawn by lot who will have to make proposals on the ecological transition. A convention that should be operational in September.

This ministerial portfolio is the first for the ambitious 45-year-old leader, who has always been a champion of a reformist ecology. The only ecologist of weight within the majority, he had appeared as a logical choice to replace Nicolas Hulot.

Member of EELV since 1997, Mr. de Rugy broke up in August 2015 with his comrades, criticizing their "leftist drift" and their choice not to participate in the government of Manuels Valls.

- "Aristocratic side" -

In 2017, after participating in the primary organized by the PS and his allies for the presidential election, he announced his rally to Emmanuel Macron, despite his commitment to support the winner Benoît Hamon. "I prefer consistency to obedience," had justified the MP, whose course earned him to be qualified by the LFI MP Clémentine Autain "professional opportunist".

He became vice-president of the National Assembly after the departure of Denis Baupin in May 2016, he was elected to perch at the beginning of the term. A consecration for this graduate of Sciences Po, former deputy transport of the Mayor of Nantes Jean-Marc Ayrault, whom he opposed on the project of Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport.

At the perch, he was not unanimous, especially because of his attacks against the "chronic offenders of absence". Enmities stemming, according to Mr. de Rugy, partly from his desire to modernize the institution.

Coming from the nobility, and "quite often" attacked on his name (full surname: François Goullet de Rugy), according to his entourage, he has yet no "castle" or "treasure" and parents teachers.

Just recently, the LFI deputy François Ruffin mocked his "aristocratic side": "The castle goes down to explain how we will make ecology in the country ..."

What earned him this scathing reply from the minister: "It attacks me on my name (...) You know who it makes me think? A fascist".

© 2019 AFP