Agnès Buzyn, the former Minister of Health, as well as the members of the Scientific Council – including Prof. Jean-François Delfraissy – will be distinguished by the Legion of Honor in 2022. They are among the more than 500 personalities decorated this year .
Published in the Official Journal on Saturday, the new civil promotion of the Legion of Honor, highest of French national distinctions, rewards a total of 547 people, “illustrious or unknown to the general public”, divided into different ranks (knights, officers, commanders …).
All members of the scientific council decorated
Among the decorated are Prof. Jean-François Delfraissy, president of the Covid-19 scientific council, which guides the French government in the face of the pandemic. “All the members of the scientific council are also distinguished in this promotion” of commander, with the exception of two personalities already promoted.
Still in the health and social field – a little more than 15% of the promotion – the former minister Agnès Buzyn, executive director of the Academy of the World Health Organization (WHO), is also promoted knight.
The former Minister of Health had resigned in February 2020, and has since been indicted in September 2021 by the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) for “endangering the lives of others” in its management of the Covid-19 epidemic.
A decoration that does not appeal to everyone
An official announcement that does not please everyone, since several political figures, in particular from the National Rally (RN), have already criticized this choice. Among them, Thierry Mariani spoke of “provocation”.
Give the Legion of Honor to Agnes @Buzyn in the midst of a pandemic is a provocation when we remember his carelessness to manage the 1st wave of the # COVID19.
How sad to see this glorious order used too often to thank courtiers https://t.co/fW9biYDyK7
– Thierry MARIANI (@ThierryMARIANI) January 1, 2022
“Giving the Legion of Honor to Agnès Buzyn in the midst of a pandemic is a provocation when we remember her carelessness to manage the first wave of Covid-19. How sad to see this glorious order used too often to thank courtiers, ”he said on Twitter.
Same story with Florien Philippot, who qualifies this decision as “provocation”, at a “same level” according to him “as Karine Lacombe last year!”.
The public sector in the spotlight
In addition, Mohamed Abdelatif, vice-president of the French Red Cross (officer), and Eva Thomas, founder of the SOS incest association, are promoted. This new promotion, the last of Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term, gives pride of place to the public sector (30% of the decorated), distinguishing in particular Bruno Lasserre, vice-president of the Council of State, as a “grand officer”.
In the economic field (nearly 30% of the decorated) are the chef Thierry Marx (officer), as well as the former Minister of Culture of François Hollande Fleur Pellerin, president of the investment fund Korelya Capital. The composer and conductor Betsy Jolas, promoted commander, and Pap Ndiaye, who in 2021 took the head of the French National Museum of the History of Immigration (Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris), knighted, come complete the list.
With the promotion of July 14, the promotion of January 1 represents one of the two annual civil promotions of the Legion of Honor. Founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, the Legion of Honor now has 92,000 members, civilians and soldiers, rewarded for their “eminent merits in the service of the nation”.