Settlement of accounts between old friends: the boss of the PS Olivier Faure accused on Wednesday the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner to have "committed a serious fault", after he had talked about his private life on the radio, on background Griveaux case. "If my words hurt him, I regret them. There was no threat," said Christophe Castaner, in the evening. He stressed that "both of them", fellow travelers in politics for several years, had "experienced difficult moments in (their) lives". "We were side by side".
The two 50-year-olds rubbed shoulders for decades with the Socialist Party, from the Rocardian youths to the mysteries of the National Assembly, where both were elected for the first time in 2012. "Our offices were side by side," said the minister. . After Christophe Castaner's departure from the walkers, Olivier Faure first spared him at the start of the Macron five-year term. But for the past few months, words have become more offensive, more sour. And Wednesday, the First Secretary of the PS went so far as to ask Emmanuel Macron "to summon the Minister of the Interior as soon as possible and draw the consequences".
Olivier Faure, "whom I accompanied in his divorces and his separations"
Object of his wrath: the intervention in the morning by Christophe Castaner who, on France Inter, said he was "amazed at the moral lessons" of Olivier Faure, "that I know well and that I accompanied in his divorces and its separations ". A direct allusion to the privacy of the number one socialist. Who, the day before, had himself denounced the "incredible lightness" of Benjamin Griveaux, the former LREM candidate for the municipal elections in Paris, forced to withdraw from the race after the broadcasting of intimate videos.
Christophe Castaner's declaration immediately sparked an outcry on the left, but also on the right. Faced with the avalanche of criticisms, Mr. Castaner, in a message directly addressed to his ex-friend on his Twitter, made a point of clarifying: "dear @faureolivier, there was neither threat nor personal attack in my remarks. We have known each other long enough to know that life is not linear, and we have sometimes faced it together. "
Dear @faureolivier, there was no threat or personal attack in my remarks.
We have known each other long enough to know that life is not linear.
And we have sometimes faced it together. https://t.co/rKzipLc8hV
But this attempt to explain the minister did not calm the cold anger of his former friend. During a declaration he wanted solemn in the press conference room in the Assembly, Olivier Faure denounced, a few hours later, "a serious fault" on the part of the minister. "Therefore, it is up to the President of the Republic, guarantor of our institutions, to convene the Minister of the Interior as soon as possible and draw the consequences," said the boss of the PS.
"Red line"
The relationship between the two men had already taken a serious penknife in March 2019, when the First Secretary of the PS had joked about the announcements "between two glasses" of his ex-ally, in allusion to an evening in a well-drunk club of this one, revealed by the press people a few days earlier. But "this morning a red line has been crossed," insisted Olivier Faure.
The boss of the PS has received the support of many political leaders. Starting with those of the Socialist Party. "Amateur as a minister? But professional of the shabby attack. These words dishonor their author and put him on the level of those he claims to fight in this pathetic affair," pinged the boss of PS senators Patrick Kanner. "In a serene democracy, Mr. Castaner would be looking for a job," attacked Julien Dray, former PS deputy. "LREM can claim anonymity on social networks, its minister is a real balance!", Exclaimed Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the PCF.
Also on the right, critics have flared. "By attacking Olivier Faure on his private life, Christophe Castaner demonstrates the baseness of which this power is capable which degrades the political climate every day", according to Bruno Retailleau, president of the senators LR.