Ambitious (and controversial) Interior Minister Darmanin, who promotes the ‘rented’ in France

A month later, the Minister of the Interior in the neighboring country was once again in the limelight. Darmanin held an event for the first time this Sunday. met with supporters, ministers and relevant MPsBoth from Macron’s party and Los Republicans (LR, right). Historians of French political life saw the first demonstration of his ambitions in the face of the crisis in Paris in this action in Tourquoing, a modest town on the outskirts of Lille, where he served as mayor from 2014 to 2017. 2027 presidential election. “What worries me right now is what will happen in 2027,” Darmanin said in an interview with the conservative newspaper ‘Le Figaro’ in mid-August.

Due to the constitutional two-term limitation, Macron will not be a candidate in the next presidential election. AND the war of succession has already begun. According to the polls, the person in the best position in this domestic race is the former prime minister. edouard philippe. But the Minister of Economy also goes behind the scenes, Bruno Le Maireand that of the Interior. They all come from the orbit of the Republican right. Of the three, Darmanin is the least able to hide his ambitions, which infuriates some sections of macronism. “We are in 2023, we are preparing for 2024. There is still a long way to go until 2027,” Borne told France Bleu radio station this week.

Following in Sarkozy’s footsteps

Despite being a leader who has been widely criticized by left and feminist groups—they have been accused of various sexual abuse charges that, although brought before the courts, have burdened him—Darmanin has a godfather. On the one hand, Bernard Arnault, president of Louis Vuitton and the richest man on the planet, according to Forbes, moved his tentacles (so far unsuccessfully) to be assigned to Matignon, as digital ‘Politico’ announced this week. On the other hand, former president Nicolas SarkozyThe ambitious minister’s political mentor.

In his latest memoir, which arrived in French bookstores this week, the conservative leader pays tribute to what was once his heir. Managed his campaign in the 2016 LR primary elections. Sarkozy writes in ‘Le Temps des battles’: “Will he know how to take the last step, the last step towards the Presidency? I want it because he has some obvious qualities.”

“Sarkozy, the first ex-president of Turkey, who was investigated for four corruption cases and sentenced to the second degree in May, is interested in the fact that people close to him are at the head of the country because of their ‘business’,” said the journalist of Prensa Ibérica, “He was close to Macron for a while, but now he is moving away from him, because he knows it won’t do him any good soon, and he’s trying to throw Darmanin out.” He researched Laurent Valdiguié of the Prensa Ibérica group, El Periódico de Catalunya, from the magazine ‘Marianne’ and co-author of the book ‘Gérald Darmanin, le baron noir du Président’.

Valdiguié adds that Darmanin “represents a kind of Sarcosism” about a minister whose career bears striking resemblances to that of the former president. “He’s an old-fashioned politician slowly climbing the ladder,” explains the current head of Home Affairs. Before coming to government, he served as a city councilor, mayor and deputy. And like Sarkozy, he served as finance minister and wants to use that post. Beauvau Square —Ministry of the Interior Headquarters— Like a catapult to the Elysee. This happened in the case of the mentor who became the protagonist of Jacques Chirac’s second term after the ‘suburb’ riot of 2005 and took over two years later.

Will macronism split?

Eighteen years later, France faced a similar wave of riots following the death of young Nahel, who was shot at close range by a police officer in Nanterre, on the western outskirts of Paris, in late June. The rule of this revolt, and its relatively quick (six days compared to three weeks in 2005) end, made Darmanin believe in his chances of being appointed prime minister. In the end, he was left alone with desire. Macron chose to make a few changes in the change of government. And now he seems to be taking his weird revenge by organizing his own ‘rent’.

“A close friend of Édouard Philippe told me that Darmanin was a political animal and He is ready to do anything to achieve his goal.“, confirms Valdiguié, who does not exclude this macronism is divided In an interview published in Le magazine recently, Macron warned of “the possibility of the splitting of the central bloc I established” and “the risk of not making it to the second round”. Point’.

Darmanin presents himself as the closest person to the “popular classes”, increasingly anchored in macronism to the centre-right or to the right. He uses his family roots to do this: His father was the manager of a bar, and her mother worked as a cleaner. Her strategy with populist overtones It looks like a copy of what Sarkozy implemented in 2007. Then, with direct and provocative language, he managed to seduce a significant part of the far-right voters with drastic measures on security and immigration. However, twenty years later, it is not yet clear whether this style will bring the same results. Voters mostly prefer the original (lepenismo) over the copy.

Also, Darmanin’s balance at the head of Internal Affairs is rather bleak. Crime issues and debates about the abuse of police power against protesters were not only recurring, but also drew attention with provocative statements. In February 2021 he said to the far right: Marine LePen It is “too soft”. A year later he branded militant radical environmentalists “eco-terrorists.” Some statements that made this ambitious minister the center of attention also devalued the language and ideas of the far right.