Legislative: Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu invested in Val-de-Marne

The presidential majority decided to invest the former swimmer in the 7th district of Val-de-Marne instead of the outgoing, yet LREM, Jean-Jacques Bridey, suspected in particular of embezzlement of public funds.

After basins and ministries, the National Assembly? Emmanuel Macron’s current Minister for Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, was nominated on Wednesday as the candidate for the presidential majority in the 7th constituency of Val-de-Marne. The former multi-medal swimmer is invested in the constituency which includes the municipalities of Rungis, Fresnes, L’Haÿ-les-Roses, Chevilly-Larue and Thiais. “With humility and conviction, I wish to bring the presidential project to the people […]. From now on, I am on the ground to meet them and listen to them”, she wrote immediately on social networks in the wake of her inauguration after saying to herself “honored” and thanking Emmanuel Macron.

Roxana Maracineanu was invested in place of the outgoing deputy LREM and former president of the defense commission of the National Assembly, Jean-Jacques Bridey. The sexagenarian, elected in the constituency since 2012, is notably suspected of having unduly received 100,000 euros by accumulating several mandates or embezzling public funds. In Macronie, we assure you that there is no link between the saucepans of the deputies and his non-renewal. On the contrary. While Bridey informed the President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand and the President of the Republic, at the end of last week, that he did not intend to go “so as not to pollute the countryside”, the Head of State would have advised him to represent himself. According to a source in the National Assembly, Emmanuel Macron even called the deputy in person on Saturday morning before the investiture ceremony to try to convince him one last time. Without success.

“Does she know how to parachute?”

The gold medalist in the 200m backstroke at the 1999 European Swimming Championships will face one of the spokespersons for the chambermaids’ strike at the Ibis hotel in Batignolles Rachel Keke, much applauded during the convention of the Nupes in Aubervilliers on May 7th. The right has meanwhile chosen the Pécssist mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, Vincent Jeanbrun, to wear its colors. The leader of the LR group at the Ile-de-France regional council did not fail to react to the investiture of the Minister of Sports. “Roxana Maracineanu can swim, but can she parachute? he mocks on Twitter. Never set foot in one of our cities […]. Out of a republican spirit, I am sending her a map of the city so that she does not get lost. A post accompanied by a photo of a map of his municipality and an envelope for the attention of the former swimmer.

In any case, this is not the first time that the minister has come up against an election. Candidate for regional elections in Ile-de-France in 2010 on the list of PS candidate and outgoing president Jean-Paul Huchon, she was elected regional councilor for Hauts-de-Seine. It had logically integrated the sports and leisure commission.

More broadly, the latest wave of nominations from Renaissance (ex-LREM) seems to settle the Elimas case. The presidential party has actually chosen – after prolonging the suspense – to invest a candidate in the constituency of Val-d’Oise, that of former minister Nathalie Elimas who had to leave the government in March after accusations of harassment. This does not prevent the elected Modem from considering a dissenting candidacy despite the embarrassment of the majority and its representatives on the ground. On April 28, seven elected officials and around twenty activists from the department sent a letter to LREM and Modem to say all the bad things he thought of a candidacy from the ex-minister.

Update at 8:35 p.m. with more details on the choice of Jean-Jacques Bridey not to represent himself