Paris (AFP)
The memory of former minister and political icon Simone Veil floats between candidate LR in Paris Rachida Dati and her rival LREM Agnès Buzyn, who jealously guard her heritage.
"Ex-beautiful girl, this is not a status," Rachida Dati told AFP Friday on the sidelines of a campaign trip, in reference to the first marriage of Ms. Buzyn with one of the sons of Simone Veil .
"I was the collaborator of Simone Veil, she was a close friend, we fought together, on the rights of women, on domestic violence, on palliative care ... Ms. Buzyn was appointed, co-opted" in the Paris election, she added.
The two candidates for mayor of Paris had a tense exchange during a televised debate Wednesday evening after Agnes Buzyn reproached her rival for the support given "on a personal basis" by Marine Le Pen.
"It is a serious attack on my honor and what I am," replied Ms. Dati, referring to the period when she "worked with Ms. Simone Veil".
"That's it, you make the dead speak, please stop," interrupted Ms. Buzyn, accusing him of having to "quote a French icon to (justify)."
A survivor of Auschwitz, Simone Veil defended the law of 1975 on the legalization of abortion. She died in 2017.
The tone had started to rise last weekend, after an interview where Agnès Buzyn affirmed that Rachida Dati "succeeded in reconciling on his program Jean-Marie Le Pen and Marine Le Pen".
She "needs a standard," added the former minister about the reference made regularly by her rival to Simone Veil.
Rachida Dati reacted strongly by posting a photo on Twitter with Simone Veil, accompanied by a lapidary: "your words are dishonorable, like your desertion".
The candidate LR has several times in recent years invoked Simone Veil, telling after her death that this "great lady" had helped her find her way as a magistrate and even offered her dress, and that she had supported her to death from his own mother.
© 2020 AFP