Eyes freeze and jaws tighten.
The day after the broadcast of a televised subject broadcast in the program "Special Envoy" on France 2 recounting the words of three women who were allegedly victims of sexual assault by Nicolas Hulot, members of the government were brought in to react.
Guests in the media, several ministers spoke of the accusations against their former colleague, Nicolas Hulot, who sat on the government benches between May 2017 and August 2018 as Minister responsible for the ecological and inclusive transition.
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Thursday, accused of sexual assault, Nicolas Hulot announces leaving "definitively" public life, had denied by playing the irony card. “
I know I have a very ungrateful physique. And so only coercion allows me to experience love stories ... More seriously, I have never seduced by coercion,
”he said on BFMTV.
A sequence that has not passed for the one who is now in charge of these questions in the government. “
Seriously? Are you kidding about rape? There are 90,000 women who are raped every year in our country (...). This tirade is scandalous, it is shameful, I do not even understand how one can be ironic at such a serious moment
”, exclaimed first on Friday evening Elisabeth Moreno, Minister Delegate in charge of equality between women and men. Women and Men on BFMTV. Before giving a real rant: "
I am completely free to tell you that I am angry when I hear a man (...) who is ironic about accusations of which he claims to be a victim. (...) It is intolerable, it is unacceptable.
"
Even before a preliminary investigation for rape and sexual assault was opened, government spokesman Gabriel Attal had to respond to the controversy on Friday morning on BFMTV-RMC. "
What I saw on social networks, these are poignant, even chilling testimonies, and which reminds us of the need for justice to be able to do its job in these situations and in the face of such acts
", first explained Gabriel Attal, a little embarrassed.
Before having to respond to the accusation of executive support for Nicolas Hulot during a first anonymous accusation dating back to 2018. Trial fueled by part of the opposition. “
What I remember at the time is that there was a testimony from a woman who said 'I don't want this case to be discussed, I don't want my name to be mentioned. ”. There you have been support for the rule of law, for the presumption of innocence. Today you have additional testimonies which are added, and which were not known at the time
”, tries to convince the member of the government. And to indicate that “
the voice of women must be heard, believed and respected within the framework of the rule of law and justice.
"
"The facts are quite terrifying"
Another member of the government on the front line, Marlène Schiappa, Minister Delegate in charge of Citizenship.
In the government as Secretary of State for Equality between Women and Men in 2018, she recalls on RMC that at the time, “
the prosecutor said that the facts were not established.
Today the facts are quite terrifying.
"
If she does not regret the appointment of Nicolas Hulot, she tried to defend the action taken by the government in the fight against sexual violence and on taking charge of the word.
Like her colleague, Marlène Schiappa “
believes in principle the word of victims
”, and
“in the rule of law and justice”.
While considering that
"it is not for
(her)
to vote by show of hands to find out who is guilty."
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