Suspected of conflict of interest, Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti is expected next week at the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), with a view to indictment.
A situation which puts the Head of State in an embarrassment, while a technical ministerial reshuffle is expected in the coming days.
An extremely rare search at the Ministry of Justice, and now, a summons to the magistrates.
Suspected of conflict of interest, Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti is expected next week at the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), with a view to indictment.
An announcement that is not really a surprise for the executive.
Immediately after the search of his office last week, Place Vendôme in Paris, the Minister of Justice informed the Elysee of his summons on July 16.
And according to several sources, he made it clear to Emmanuel Macron that it is a summons "with a view to being indicted".
>> Find Europe evening in replay and podcast here
According to Europe 1 information, the head of state's first reaction was in favor of his Keeper of the Seals.
"We will do everything to keep Eric Dupond-Moretti, he will not leave the government," he said.
A desire of the executive to show that at this stage, Eric Dupond-Moretti is not indicted.
And therefore that everything else is just fiction.
Will the "Balladur jurisprudence" be respected?
But this hypothesis will depend on July 16.
Because if he is really indicted, it is not certain that the executive will last long.
Emmanuel Macron himself has repeatedly recalled his attachment to what is called "the Balladur jurisprudence": a minister indicted must leave the government.
It should also be noted that since 2017, the Ministry of Justice has not been spared.
Because François Bayrou, involved in the case of fictitious jobs of the European Parliament had to leave the government.
Invited from Europe Soir by Olivier Marleix, LR vice-president, was questioned on this subject.
He considered that in the event that the Keeper of the Seals was indicted, he should indeed leave his post.
"There is an unwritten rule which has always been scrupulously respected for ten years, and which wants a minister in this situation to go away to allow justice to exercise its magisterium serenely", a- he asserted.
READ ALSO
- Search at the Ministry of Justice: Dupond-Moretti implicates a union of magistrates
A planned technical cabinet reshuffle
But the problem today is that the head of state has planned a technical cabinet reshuffle in the coming days.
And he, who hates these sequences, has no desire to experience two reshuffles in just two weeks.
In any case, at this stage, remains a certainty: Eric Dupond-Moretti remains presumed innocent.
He knows it better than anyone.
He will therefore do everything in the next few days to show it.