Relief. Most players in the sector of care for the elderly or people with disabilities have been holding their breath for several days, hoping for the departure of Damien Abad from the government. Implicated for attempted rape, targeted by a judicial inquiry, the Minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and Disabled People was not renewed in the new team of Elisabeth Borne. He castigated “despicable calumnies” against him, promising that he would defend himself “relentlessly until justice confirms [son] innocent », before leaving Avenue Duquesne on Monday.
“Whatever the moral judgment that one carries on Mr. Abad, everyone was paralyzed for weeks. His cabinet received no one. Everything was on stand-by, there was a real discomfort ”, says Luc Broussy, president of the silver economy sector, which brings together market players for seniors. In addition to the departure of a disputed minister, “ the other great news » is the appointment of“an indisputable professional”, exclaims Mr. Broussy. Jean-Christophe Combe to succeed him: in his eyes, “one could hardly dream of a better profile”.
At 40, Mr. Combe has been director general of the French Red Cross since 2017. Coming from civil society and without any electoral mandate, he appears to be the antithesis of his predecessor. “ Combe has a very operational profile, slices a connoisseur of the social and solidarity economy sector. He is a result-oriented man, he will do the job meticulously. »
“Consensual and not politically marked”
Jean-Marc Borello, boss of the SOS group, operator in the same niche as the Red Cross, also approves, ” the appointment of Combe, an excellent idea”. “He has the advantage of having led an association whose field goes from hospitals to nurseries, through centers for minors and retirement homes, which will be a central subject of his ministry”underlines this close friend of Emmanuel Macron, member of the leadership of the presidential party, The Republic on the move. In addition, “it is consensual and is not politically marked”.
Mr. Combe is less removed from political spheres than it seems. A graduate of Sciences Po Paris, he quickly made his way to the center right. Technical adviser to the centrist group in the Senate, from 2003, he spent a few months at the Deloitte audit firm in 2006, then became director of the cabinet of Bruno Bourg-Broc, mayor (UMP, former name of the Les Républicains party) of Châlons -en-Champagne from 2007 to 2009, before leading the cabinet of Emmanuel Lamy, mayor (UMP) of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines) from 2009 to 2011.
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