Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP
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11:35 p.m., March 21, 2024
Frédéric Mitterrand, former Minister of Culture during Nicolas Sarkozy’s five-year term, died this Thursday at the age of 76. At the start of the year, on the set of “Punchline” on Europe 1 and CNews, the man who was also a great man of television, reacted to the appointment of Rachida Dati to the ministry he attended for three years.
Writer, television producer, director, teacher… Frédéric Mitterrand had 1,000 lives in one. François’ nephew, the former President of the Republic, was also Minister of Culture, between 2009 and 2012, under the five-year term of Nicolas Sarkozy. It was therefore with an informed view on the issue that he spoke, at the start of the year on Europe 1 and C-News, about the appointment of Rachida Dati to this same ministry.
According to him, there is nothing incongruous about this choice. More particularly with regard to the career of the mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris. “It surprised everyone, but Rachida Dati comes from a very modest background, she built herself with great stubbornness, great courage, a lot of energy. And when she arrived, she said ‘I have to for French culture to be what I have become. With someone who says that, I would necessarily have a favorable prejudice”, declared the former minister at the microphone of Laurence Ferrari in Punchline.
“It’s annoying this way of wanting to tear people down”
The arrival of the former Minister of Justice on rue Saint-Honoré sparked strong reactions. On the left, some did not hesitate to highlight the indictment for “passive corruption”, against Rachida Dati, the investigation into her consulting services to the former CEO of Renault, Carlos Ghosn, when others pointed out a shift too far to the right of the new government of Gabriel Attal. On the right, some very quickly highlighted the criticism, sometimes harsh, made by the person concerned towards Emmanuel Macron… whom she therefore ended up joining.
Acrimonious comments that Frédéric Mitterrand did not appreciate. First and foremost those coming from the left of the political spectrum. “I didn’t like this chic left which was very contemptuous,” he asserted, before moving on: “It’s annoying this way of wanting to demolish people, under the pretext that you yourself are the holder of ‘a cultural capacity’. According to him, the criticism aimed at Rachida Dati demonstrated a desire to “deny all legitimacy to someone who arrives and who does not come from the same world, but who certainly also has ideas”.