Transparency operation.
Like his illustrious predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, Gérald Darmanin knows how to handle communication wonderfully.
He knows his classics by heart: any political leader, with assumed national ambitions, must crack the armor.
And reveal an intimate part.
While the public only knows his costume as France's first cop, with his declared firmness, the tenant of Place Beauvau has decided to reveal one of his other facets.
The one that relates to the private and his family.
To discover
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In Thursday's issue of Paris Match, the Minister of the Interior appears relaxed, without a tie, alongside his wife Rose-Marie Devillers and his two young sons, Max-Emilen and Alec, respectively born in 2021 and 2022 We see, among others, the elected official from Tourcoing (North) descending the steps of the ministry with his elder, children's bicycle in his hands.
Or teach geography to your toddlers in front of a large planisphere.
The Minister of the Interior on the front page of Paris Match.
Paris Match.
If Gérald Darmanin claims
to “think about the present, not the presidential election”
, his approach gives the opposite feeling.
His family,
“united, gentle and solid”
, which is
“the most protective of the bubbles”
,
“helps him incredibly to hold on”
in his functions.
Of which he is
“not the owner”
.
“Managing the country's affairs”
being
“very demanding”
, he draws from his loved ones
“a source of hope and energy”
.
A
“source”
that he details in a few moments of life:
“Being able to take a few minutes during the day to take your children to school or daycare, share a meal with them, even if it means going back down to work in the office.”
“The happiness of (his children) is his,”
he says.
Read alsoPresidential 2027: “Big challenge and small horses”
As for his partner, whom he married in the summer of 2020, Gérald Darmanin described her as the one
“who knows (him) best.”
“Discussions between us are frank, we are both discreet and close-knit (...) Despite the constraints of political life, we cannot do without each other
,” he confides.
The opportunity also for the 41-year-old minister to talk about his modest origins and the role of his mother in his life:
“Of Mediterranean origin
,” she
“continues to want to “feed” him and still puts (him) 10 euros in your pocket.”
“My mother raised me alone.
I knew my father, our relationships were strong but distant (...) We never lacked anything thanks to her,”
he says.
The resemblance to Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy, in 2002, and American President Kennedy, in 1963. Jacques Lange / Stanley Tretick
Although the news may have recently revolved around the agricultural crisis or the European elections, Gérald Darmanin is playing counter-programming.
And unfolds its own score.
On the front page, the minister even shows up at his office, smiling, one of his sons on his lap.
Which is reminiscent of the years 2002-2007 when his political mentor - Nicolas Sarkozy - appeared, also at Interior, in the same magazine alongside his partner at the time, Cécilia, and his youngest son, Louis.
Who was installed under his father's desk, using the codes of a famous photo of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his son in the Oval Office, in 1963. Way of presenting the image of a family united around 'an impetuous minister in full conquest of power.
A polished communication which, at the time, found an echo in public opinion in view of the presidential election.
Any resemblance with 2024 would therefore not be completely fortuitous... Especially since Gérald Darmanin cites in turn the value of
"work"
, the
"rules"
of France to be respected and the
"pursuit of (the) national novel"
as items of its ideological software.
From Sarkozy 2007 in the text.
“Calm, determined”
and
“good in his shoes”
, the minister leaves little room for doubt about his Elysian aspirations.
He places a new small stone on the path to 2027:
“My greatest failure would be to fail in honor, that is to say in the idea that I have of the service of my country.”
“It’s the one who has the most character, the most energy, who is the most sincere, who wins,”
enthuses the tenant of Place Beauvau.
“The French are so political.”