The Marianne Fund affair has not finished tormenting the current Secretary of State for the Social and Solidarity Economy. The former chief of staff of Marlène Schiappa, Sébastien Jallet, assured this Wednesday in the Senate not to have solicited the main beneficiary association of the Marianne fund, contrary to the assertions of one of its officials.
Launched on April 20, 2021 by Marlène Schiappa, then Minister Delegate for Citizenship after the shock caused by the assassination of Professor Samuel Paty, this fund, initially endowed with 2.5 million euros, aimed to finance associations promoting the values of the Republic to fight against separatism. Only, according to revelations of France 2, it would have mainly benefited an association: the USEPPM (Federative Union of Physical Education and Military Preparation Societies). This association obtained an endowment of 355,000 euros for few actions thereafter.
Christian Gravel, the head of the CIPDR (Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization), the administrative structure managing this fund, announced his resignation on Tuesday after the publication of a report by the General Inspectorate of Administration (IGA). He denounced the "privileged treatment" granted by Christian Gravel to the USEPPM.
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Heard by the Senate commission of inquiry launched after the first revelations about the Marianne Fund, Sébastien Jallet defended himself from having pushed the leaders of the USEPPM to apply for a grant. "The USEPPM project is not something that the firm and I went looking for," he said.
Mohamed Sifaoui, one of the two leaders of the USEPPM, had assured in April that he had been encouraged to apply "by the members of Marlène Schiappa's cabinet and by herself". "I did not take this initiative spontaneously," he wrote.
Marlène Schiappa "has faded from the process"
In its report, the IGA also considers that the CIPDR's call for projects, on 20 April, "was neither transparent nor fair". Sébastien Jallet retorted that he was "fair" because all the candidates according to him saw "their requests appreciated". Marlène Schiappa's former chief of staff also considered that the Marianne Fund was "a project which, once past the impulse phase and validation, was essentially administrative missions".
The project selection committee, which did not participate Marlène Schiappa, "essentially validated the proposals made by the administration," he said, conceding that a file subsequently received an "unfavorable arbitration from the minister". The IGA noted that "all the testimonies collected indicate that the Minister Delegate withdrew from the process, once the official launch was over" on April 20.
Last May, Marlène Schiappa defended herself in an interview with Closer magazine, saying that the "suspicions of favoritism" for some of the associations selected in the fund were "totally unfounded". "Not only did I not decide on the distribution of funds, but I have no friends among the winners," she said.
Marlène Schiappa will in turn be auditioned next Wednesday (10 am), as well as her successor as Secretary of State for Citizenship Sonia Backes (16 pm).