Mayalène Trémolet / Photo credit: Bertrand GUAY / AFP
Appointed Minister of Health this Thursday during the reshuffle, Aurélien Rousseau is already the subject of criticism because of a potential conflict of interest. Because his wife, Marguerite Cazeneuve, is the deputy director of the National Health Insurance Fund. And is therefore under the supervision of the Ministry of Health.
Barely 24 hours at the Ministry of Health and already a first controversy for Aurélien Rousseau. The former chief of staff of Elisabeth Borne is the subject of criticism because of a potential conflict of interest linked to the function occupied by his wife, Marguerite Cazeneuve. The latter is the deputy director of the National Health Insurance Fund and is thus directly placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Health, which is piloted by her husband.
But according to Olivier Véran, government spokesperson, this is a bad debate. For the former Minister of Health, there can be no conflict of interest insofar as Marguerite Cazeneuve does not operate in the private sector. “The wife of the Minister of Health works in the public sector. There is a High Authority for the transparency of public life which has already put in place recommendations in this type of situation, so that anything that could directly concern the activity of his wife is subject to a deportation from the minister, “he said.
Similar situations in the past
Aurélien Rousseau, himself, defended himself in the newspaper The world. According to him, nothing on the legal level is embarrassing in this case. But other voices remind us that Marguerite Cazeneuve is also the daughter and sister of the Renaissance deputies, Jean-René and Pierre Cazeneuve.
However, similar situations had already arisen during the first five-year term. Thus, Frédéric Veaux had been appointed director general of the national police while his wife, Véronique Malbec, was a senior executive in the Ministry of Justice and today in the Constitutional Council. A situation that had never posed a problem.