Jacques Serais, edited by Laura Laplaud
modified to
08:54, November 09, 2022
According to the media “Disclose”, the children of the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, are partners in a company based on funds partly domiciled in tax havens. Revelations which the executive would have done well.
These are revelations that cause trouble. The online media Disclose revealed on Tuesday that the children of the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier Runacher, are associated with a company linked to tax havens. The minister’s father, Jean-Michel Runacher, ex-director of the oil company Perenco, made this arrangement, which is akin to a donation. The High Authority for Transparency in Public Life (HATVP) has opened an investigation.
Embarrassing revelations
Revelations that fall right at the time when Emmanuel Macron was playing the green president card between COP 27 in Egypt and the reception of polluting industries at the Élysée. Whether at Renaissance headquarters or in the National Assembly, these revelations somewhat embarrass the executive and the majority.
“I suggest you go and ask the minister about these facts,” says Loïc Signor, Renaissance spokesperson. “My lawyer is available to clarify the various points,” says Agnès Pannier-Runacher. No one is jostling in Macronie to defend the Minister of Energy Transition. “Yourself, Madam Prime Minister, can you continue to trust Madame Pannier-Runacher?”, Launches the deputy of Nupes, Aurélien Saintoul, to Elisabeth Borne.
“We are in a hemicycle, not in a court”
When the Prime Minister goes to the front in the face of pressure from deputies, it is to better kick into touch. “I believe that we are in a hemicycle, not in a court. If your purpose is to comment on press articles, I tell you that my role is not to comment on press articles and that the minister has already had the ‘opportunity to express themselves,’ she thunders.
It must be said that within the government itself, Agnès-Pannier Runacher, “APR”, as she is nicknamed, does not only have friends, far from it. One of his colleagues, a minister of weight, balance: “She is not in the odor of sanctity. I will not defend her!” A sign that the flammable potential of this file is taken seriously: “APR is managed at the very top”, specifies a minister. In other words, the Elysée took over to try to put out the fire.