A Darmanin Sunday. The Minister of Action and Public Accounts will speak for one hour this Sunday noon on RTL and LCI before meeting in a small committee of political editorialists. Before that, Gérald Darmanin answered questions from the Journal du Dimanche. Because on Saturday morning, he was elected mayor of Tourcoing (North). Above all, he obtained from Emmanuel Macron the right to remain in his post of minister, in contradiction with the unwritten rule established in 1997.
The Prime Minister had however recalled the rule last September: "When one is a minister, one cannot cumulate with the head of a local executive". So a choice had to be made.
“The President of the Republic and the Prime Minister authorized me to be a minister and a candidate. They authorized me, for a time and given the exceptional circumstances "linked to the coronavirus epidemic," to exercise these two functions ", he affirms in the JDD.
"Being a local elected representative, within easy reach"
On March 15, the list of Gérald Darmanin, mayor of the second northern city behind Lille from 2014 to 2017, was chosen by 60.9% of the votes, with a record abstention of 74.6%. In 2017, he had already waited four months before giving up his chair to become first assistant, when the Budget monopolized him.
"My DNA is to be a local elected official, in a row, a fortiori in a big popular city," he says. "In addition to the confidence of the President and the Prime Minister, this is where I draw my legitimacy, and also my concrete knowledge of many of the subjects I have to deal with as a minister. When I talk about the purchasing power of the French, their difficulties, I know what that means ... ”, he explains.
What pride and honor to be elected Mayor of #Tourcoing this morning by the Municipal Council. Thank you to Tourquennoises and Tourquennois who trusted us by doing #LeChoixDeTourcoing! pic.twitter.com/TVZBS3YeJ5
- Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) May 23, 2020Unlike his colleague Franck Riester (Culture), designated deputy mayor of Coulommiers (Seine-et-Marne) on Saturday morning, and Édouard Philippe, on waivers at Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), who went into battle in announcing that they would not be mayors, Darmanin said so when he applied. "If I am at the top of the list, it is to be mayor," he warned at the end of January.
The former RPR, which became UMP and then En Marche, should remain in Bercy until the next reshuffle. And after ? Darmanin intends to "weigh more" on political choices and "continue to work" with Emmanuel Macron "to repair our country", perhaps, he proposes with a "third way" between "unbridled capitalism and administered economy ”, of Gaullist inspiration which would be to make employees shareholders of their companies.
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A range of services for an extended social ministry, even for Matignon.
