INTERVIEW
The news shocked a good number of feminist people: targeted by a rape complaint on facts dating back to 2009, Gérald Darmanin was appointed Monday Minister of the Interior in the government of Jean Castex. If the Elysee Palace indicated that this complaint had not been an "obstacle" to his appointment, feminist activists expressed their opposition, Tuesday evening, outside the premises of the ministry. On Europe 1, the general secretary of the union of police commissioners, David Le Bars, defended the "presumption of innocence" enjoyed by the minister.
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"For the past few months, we have been in a period where many minorities are contesting things," explains David Le Bars. "I always refer to the rule of law. When we are prosecuted in an investigation, we are always presumed innocent. It is not because someone files a complaint against another person that there is guilt. " After the dismissal of the case, the investigations resumed last month.
An "annoying" choice?
Much has been written about this appointment since Monday. Can it politically weaken the Minister, who until now occupied the Ministry of Public Accounts, less exposed to daily life than that of the Interior? "It can be embarrassing, but if this choice has been made, it must be considered that it is the choice of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister", answers David Le Bars.
"If he is in trouble with the justice system, he is someone who is mature enough to make the decisions that will have to be made," the unionist anticipates about the case. "I don't like unions that give ministers yellow cards in principle."
Darmanin eagerly awaited
While Christophe Castaner had been harshly criticized in recent weeks by the police, "Gérald Darmanin arrives in a post-grumbling period", underlines the trade unionist. "He cannot afford to speak of the emotion that supplants the law, one of Castaner's errors" in the midst of a protest against police violence.
The union of police commissioners will meet with the new minister on Thursday. "We will welcome him on the functions on which we expect him," says David Le Bars, who hopes that the former tenant of Bercy respond to "the emergency" in which the ministry is "plunged for many months" .