Did the prefect of Pays de la Loire get out of his duty of reserve Monday evening when he wished to the forces of his region? The question arises after the publication of an article from the local investigation site Médiacités Nantes this Tuesday i. Claude D'Harcourt, also prefect of Loire-Atlantique, in the middle of a fairly bleak assessment of the year 2019 made an exit on the debates surrounding PMA for all and the now famous bioethics bill.
"The bioethics bill carries a major anthropological break", he initially expressed according to Médiacités, using word for word the expression used by the Academy of Medicine last September on PMA for all and which had then been controversial. "The deliberate conception of a child deprived of a father constitutes a major anthropological break" and is "not without risks" for his "psychological development" and his "fulfillment" had rendered in an opinion the Academy to the dismay of Agnès Buzyn, Minister of Health.
This evening, Claude d'Harcourt, prefect of the Pays de la Loire and Loire-Atlantique region, presents his # wishes to the # economic players in the area. pic.twitter.com/cGtAjEJMul
- Prefect of Pays de la Loire and Loire-Atlantique (@ Prefet44) January 20, 2020"I am not sure that this law favors the benchmarks to which our fellow citizens aspire"
"Personally, I am not sure that this law promotes the benchmarks to which our fellow citizens aspire," continued the prefect in representation, still according to the Nantes investigation site. A surprising remark that comes in a context where the Senate is examining the bioethics bill, widely adopted by the National Assembly, and the day after an anti-PMA demonstration for all in Paris.
The reputation of the prefect of 44 is well established. This enarch worked in the prefecture in Haute-Savoie, Seine-et-Marne, Vaucluse and Seine-Saint-Denis but also that of secretary general for the administration of the Paris police prefecture, during the quinquennium of Nicolas Sarkozy. It is also the prefect who had to manage the affair "of the death of Steve" during a music festival on the quays in Nantes which shook the Nantes country but also aroused excitement throughout the Hexagon.
The principle of public service neutrality
He is nonetheless subject to the duty of reserve like all civil servants and a priori senior civil servants. "The principle of public service neutrality prohibits civil servants from making their office the instrument of any kind of propaganda. The scope of this obligation is assessed on a case-by-case basis by the hierarchical authority under the supervision of the administrative judge, ”specifies the law on the obligation to reserve.
On social networks, some personalities have rebelled against the prefect's remarks and even call for his resignation.
The prefect is "the representative of the State and the representative of each member of the Government". The prefect @PaysDeLaLoire Claude d'Harcourt must apologize or resign. #PMApourToutes pic.twitter.com/ell1nNCOFp
- Claire Underwood (@ParisPasRose) January 21, 2020Is the prefect D'Harcourt a repeat offender?
In 2009, Claude d'Harcourt had already been accused of having broken his duty of reserve by socialist senators while he was director of the prison administration for having congratulated himself in advance in a letter to his departmental directors conclusions of the parliamentary debate on prison law. Michèle Alliot-Marie, Keeper of the Seals of the time, asked for explanations from her director of central administration. Contacted the cabinet of the cabinet of the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner had not yet replied to us at the time of publication of these lines.
