Aurélien Rousseau at the Ministry of Health: should we see a risk of conflict of interest?

Mayalène Trémolet / Photo credit: Bertrand GUAY / AFP 20:25 pm, July 21, 2023

Barely 24 hours at the Ministry of Health and already a first controversy for Aurélien Rousseau. The former chief of staff of Elisabeth Borne is the subject of criticism because of a potential conflict of interest related to the position held by his wife, Marguerite Cazeneuve. The latter is the deputy director of the National Health Insurance Fund and is thus directly under the supervision of the Ministry of Health headed by her husband.

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But according to Olivier Véran, government spokesman, this is a bad debate. For the former Minister of Health, there can be no conflict of interest insofar as Marguerite Cazeneuve does not operate in the private sector. "The wife of the Minister of Health works in the public sector. There is a High Authority for Transparency in Public Life that has already put in place recommendations in this type of situation, so that everything that could directly concern the activity of his wife is subject to a deportation of the minister," he said.

Similar situations in the past

Aurélien Rousseau, himself, defended himself in the newspaper Le Monde. According to him, nothing from a legal point of view is inconvenient in this case. But other voices recall that Marguerite Cazeneuve is also the daughter and sister of Renaissance deputies, Jean-René and Pierre Cazeneuve.

However, similar situations had already arisen during the first five-year period. Thus, Frédéric Veaux had been appointed Director General of the National Police while his wife, Véronique Malbec, was a senior official of the Ministry of Justice and today at the Constitutional Council. A situation that had never been a problem.