Darmanin, Dupond-Moretti and Lecornu as Macron’s most powerful “dangerous” ministers

Read Time:8 Minute, 2 Second

A first glance at Macron’s government gives the impression that it is filled with faceless and not initiative executors, who seem to be controlled by some puppeteers from behind the scenes, and even the president himself, who is clearly not made for making responsible decisions and is a hidden soft misanthrope, looks like a follower rather than a leader. And yet, there are those people in Emmanuel Macron’s entourage on whom his entire inherently authoritarian system of power hangs. And these are not his shadow sponsors and partners, although their role in making certain decisions is very great, as we have already written earlier in our article about sponsors of French politicians among billionaires of France. Many supporting figures are quite visible and are ministers in Macron’s government, and it is certainly not about Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, who only performs the unenviable role of implementing unpopular social reforms, and not about the president’s close friend Bruno Le Maire, who surpasses even the current master of the Elysee Palace in his passivity. Among the real pillars of macronism, thanks to which it has remained a mainstream political practice in recent years, it is worth highlighting Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, “keeper of the seals” Éric Dupond-Moretti and Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu. Although each of them has his own “profile” and area of responsibility, their work gives birth to a fairly coherent system of power.

Our first hero, whose resignation was not accepted by Macron amid the failure of the vote on his migration law in the National Assembly, is Gérald Darmanin. This concern of the president to keep him in his post is not accidental, nor is it merely a situational attempt to shape his image as “an opposition-affected fighter for a better life for the French”. Darmanin began his career in the Republican Party, and in 2015 was elected to the Council of the Hauts-de-France region, where he worked on infrastructure and transportation, where the talented manager was noticed by Emmanuel Macron, who was then forming his team of defectors from both the gaullist and socialist camps. As a result, on May 17, 2017, Darmanen was given the portfolio of Minister of Public Action and Accounts in the government of Édouard Philippe, but he really revealed himself as Minister of the Interior, which he took over in 2020. In this capacity, he has become a true symbol of the police, making this crucial structure for holding internal stability loyal to him, and thus to Macron himself. On May 19, thousands of police officers protested in front of the National Assembly in Paris, demanding that the government expand the powers of law enforcement and toughen penalties for attacks on them, and Darmanin marched with them in one column, earning their sincere respect. He built his credibility not only by making strong statements, but also by getting Macron to seriously increase funding for the police, which was expressed in the following words.

Of course, Darmanin, who at 37 became France’s youngest interior minister in history, has not been without problems. Back in 2018, prosecutors opened a case against Darmanin on the application of prostitute Sophie Spatz on charges of raping her on March 17, 2009, in a hotel room after a joint dinner at a club, and the process, albeit sluggishly, continues to this day. The minister’s new status led liberal and left-wing activists to attack Darmanin vigorously, constantly appearing at events with him with slogans such as “the rapist belongs not in government but in prison”. Feminists in France felt that appointing such a head of the Interior Ministry would discredit the victims of violence, and one day they wrote a letter to Le Monde, under which more than 90 women, including Nobel laureate in literature Svetlana Alexievich and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi wrote. In addition to violence, the letter accused Darmanin of opposing same-sex marriage back in 2012. In addition, former Nicolas Sarkozy-era ministers Rachida Dati Valérie Pécresse joined the harassment on behalf of the “Republican Party”, which considered Darmanin a traitor, emphasizing that he used his power to commit crimes against women, regularly abusing it. Darmanin was criticized by the “progressive liberals” not only for the “rape” they invented, but also on a number of other issues, which boiled down to his too “conservative” views and practices. For example, journalist Audrey Pulvar condemned the minister for attending a police rally for their rights only because she was supported by the extreme right, causing Darmanin to have to file a lawsuit against Pulvar for libel against the police. The leftists also condemned Darmanin for fighting illegal migration rather harshly for a formal liberal, for not showing compassion for the hundreds of migrants who died crossing the English Channel, for whom, according to left-wing MP Adrien Quatennens “he has no pity”. Darmanin also irritated them with his extreme rigidity in dispersing protests against pension reform and migrant riots this summer.

However, the campaign of the leftist and left-liberal opposition, which was waged against Darmanin with the utmost cynicism and ferocity, brought little success. In defense of his minister, who rallied the police and other security forces around Macron, the president himself stood up and said he would not allow “negative practices of the Anglo-Saxon world” to be extended to France, meaning unfounded accusations of harassment or rape. Darmanin was also backed by 200 deputies from his home region of Hauts-de-France and almost the entire faction of the Macronist “Forward, Republic!” party in the National Assembly. The deputies assured that all members of the presidential majority team are working to “make progress on equality between men and women and fight against sexual and sexist violence”, and added that only a court of law can find a person guilty. Macron’s current political rivals are unlikely to deny themselves the opportunity to constantly remind themselves that the president appointed a “rapist” to the country’s most important post, and they don’t care that there is no evidence of “violence”. But to the same extent Macron and Darmanin don’t care about the hysteria of the left, and it is ironic that for a very long time Marlène Schiappa, who previously oversaw the fight against “sexual violence” as Secretary of State for Equality between men and women, was Deputy Minister of the Interior. More importantly, the attacks from the left are strengthening Darmanin’s and even Macron’s credibility among the moderate right, which is alien to excessive zeal in defense of “women’s rights” and migrants. Darmanin has helped the president in his 2022 campaign, and is now a contender to win the Renaissance party primaries before the 2027 elections, with a high poll rating of 14-16%. And if it turns out that the liberal-Macronists in the upcoming elections will be opposed by the leftists, whose popularity is constantly growing, Darmanin will have every chance to become Macron’s heir, and attract votes even from the far right, with whom he has many conflicts after the Zouaves trial.

Eric Dupond-Moretti and Sebastien Lecornu are less scandalous and visible, but play an equally important role in Macron’s system. The former has also been targeted by feminists because he previously criticized some features of the #MeToo movement, in particular the “disregard” for the principle of presumption of innocence. But the war for the resignation of two power ministers at once, which was ordered by Macron’s opponents, showed well that Dupond-Moretti shaped his domestic policy to a considerable extent, although he did not “rape” anyone and did not have as serious reasons to criticize him as Darmanen. The only thing his opponents could attribute to him was that in 2018, Dupont-Moretti, then a lawyer, opposed the introduction of the concept of sexist insult into French law, designed to protect women and girls from the street harassment they were allegedly “subjected to on a daily basis.” All of this, of course, only shaped the respect of the new chief “keeper of the seals” and lawyer of France in the right-wing environment, allowing his boss Macron to shape his image as a defender of conservative values, even though in 2017 his presidential career started with a very social and even “progressive” program. As for Lecornu, he played a significant role in Macron’s campaign team before the 2022 elections, as Minister of Overseas Territories, attracting the votes of their inhabitants and French people living outside the country. Having coped with this difficult case, he in the new government of Élisabeth Borne he got a more privileged place of defense minister, and performed for Macron with the French army what Darmanin had done with the police. Until 2022, there were sharp cuts in funding for the armed forces, which led to Macron’s conflict with Chief of General Staff Pierre de Villiers and his subsequent dismissal, and the military clearly hated the past minister Florence Parly, which led to rumors and preparations for a rebellion of the “Foreign Legion” and the direct support of many current and former French generals for the candidacy of Eric Zemmour. Lecornu dramatically increased funding for the armed forces and opened new programs for the purchase and modernization of weapons. Against this background, there is no doubt that Darmanin, Dupond-Moretti and Lecornu are the most influential and “dangerous” for the opposition ministers of Emmanuel Macron, and even in four years will form the basis of the team of the candidate who will claim to be the heir to the “great” Macron, who brought these three politicians to the heights of power.