Should we see a Fillon bis affair there?
These are the words used by Le Canard enchaîné in an article to be published on newsstands on Wednesday.
The accusation still targets an elected Les Républicains, candidate for the presidency of the party: Éric Ciotti.
Our colleagues say they have looked into the career of his former wife, Caroline Magne, the mother of his children.
Eric Ciotti made the mother of his children work in Penelopesque conditions: she held up to three jobs at the same time…#Ciotti #LR #AlpesMaritimes
At 10 p.m. this evening on https://t.co/Tpwe6OCaMI and tomorrow in newsstands
– The Chained Duck (@canardenchaine) November 15, 2022
According to the Duck, the latter has accumulated up to three jobs at the same time.
She now works as general manager of the services of the town hall of Mandelieu-la-Napoule, in the Alpes-Maritimes.
When he was elected deputy in June 2007, Eric Ciotti would have first hired him as a parliamentary assistant, a part-time employee.
This is the first duplication mentioned by our colleagues, since Caroline Magne was already working as Christian Estrosi's press officer at the town hall of Nice.
In a press release published this Tuesday evening, Éric Ciotti defends himself from any abuse.
"While she successively held the position of cabinet associate at the Department of the Alpes-Maritimes until March 2008 then at the City of Nice from March 2008 to 2012, Ms Magne worked alongside me as a parliamentary assistant in the constituency, in particular in communications, press relations and the organization of events and part-time meetings for a duration of 5h25 per week", he says.
"The accumulation of activity has never exceeded 44 hours per week"
The facts mentioned by Le Canard enchaîné do not stop there.
Caroline Magne would then have followed her husband in his various appointments.
This was the case when Éric Ciotti became, in addition to his mandate as a deputy, president of the departmental council of the Alpes-Maritimes, becoming its deputy director.
In 2009, Caroline Magne saw her area of expertise increase further when she joined “the urban community's steering team”, writes Le Canard.
Caroline Magne worked as a parliamentary collaborator until September 2016. A job she would have done from the deputy's constituency, according to Éric Ciotti, thus justifying her absence at the Palais-Bourbon.
It was two years earlier that she had taken up her post as director general of the services of the town hall of La Colle-sur-Loup.
“For the time she worked at the Town Hall of La Colle sur Loup from September 1, 2014 until August 2016, the weekly working time never exceeded 9 hours per week, answers Éric Ciotti.
Ms. Magne resigned from her duties in September 2016. In both cases, the cumulative activity never exceeded 44 hours per week,” he continues.
The chained duck list does not stop there, the palmipede still evoking a post in the diocese of Nice between January 2012 and August 2014. In his press release published this Tuesday evening, Éric Ciotti says he is "once again basely attacked" at eve of the elections.
"On the merits, I specify that I employed Mrs. Caroline Magne as a very part-time parliamentary collaborator in strict compliance with laws and regulations from my election to the National Assembly in June 2007", he assures .