The former chief of staff of Marlène Schiappa conceded on Wednesday before a parliamentary committee that the minister had intervened to dismiss an association of the Marianne Fund to fight against separatism, while denying any favoritism in the selection of projects. Launched on April 20, 2021 by Marlène Schiappa, then Minister Delegate for Citizenship after the shock caused by the assassination of Professor Samuel Paty, this fund, initially endowed with 2.5 million euros, aimed to finance associations carrying out speeches promotion of the values of the Republic to fight against separatism.
Resignation of the boss of the CIPDR
Sébastien Jallet was heard by the Senate inquiry committee on this controversial fund, the day after the resignation of Christian Gravel, the head of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization (CIPDR), an administrative structure managing this fund at within the Ministry of the Interior.
The project selection committee, which was held on May 22, 2021 and in which Marlène Schiappa did not participate, “has essentially validated the proposals made by the administration”, therefore by the CIPDR, assured Sébastien Jallet. The latter, however, conceded that a file had subsequently received an “unfavorable arbitration from the minister”, without mentioning the name of the association. According to Mediapart, it is SOS Racisme. Questioned by AFP on Wednesday, its president Dominique Sopo indicated that there was no doubt.
No subsidy for SOS Racisme
“We had learned in the spring of 2021, orally by a contact that we were going to be granted 100,000 euros. Then afterwards, no more sound, no more light. We did not have a subsidy”, affirmed Dominique Sopo. According to him, “Mr. Jallet’s hearing matches what we were told at the time” to explain the refusal: a personal “dispute” between him and the minister after he signed a collective forum published in a daily and initiated by the Human Rights League criticizing the so-called law “against separatism”.
Sébastien Jallet, during his hearing, indeed explained this “decision of non-selection on this association” by a “questioning” of the minister by “via the press”. Requested, the current cabinet of Marlène Schiappa could not comment immediately.
“No specific report”
When the affair on the Marianne fund broke out in several media at the end of March at the beginning of April, Marlène Schiappa had strongly defended herself from any breach. “The choice (of the 17 winning associations, editor’s note) was made via the administration, maneuvering in compliance with all procedures”, indicated a press release from his current cabinet on April 6. “Wrongly asserting that it was an ad hominem decision by Marlène Schiappa is totally false and denied by the procedure”, it was said.
This interventionism is also in contradiction with one of the conclusions of the report of the General Inspectorate of Administration (IGA) published on Tuesday. He notes that according to “testimonies”, “the Minister Delegate withdrew from the process, once the official launch had passed” on April 20.
Schiappa auditioned on June 14
Before the Senate, Sébastien Jallet also denied any favoritism towards the main beneficiary association, the USEPPM (Federal Union of Physical Education and Military Preparation Societies). “The USEPPM project is not a project that the firm and I went to look for”, assured Sébastien Jallet, affirming that he had arrived at the CIPDR. Mohamed Sifaoui, one of the two leaders of the USEPPM, had nevertheless assured in April that he had been encouraged to apply “by the members of Marlène Schiappa’s cabinet and by herself”. The IGA on Tuesday denounced the “privileged treatment” granted by Christian Gravel to this association.
Also heard on Wednesday in the Senate, Julien Marion, the chief of staff of Secretary of State Sonia Backès, who now has the CIPDR under his control at the Ministry of the Interior, assured that on his arrival at the ministry in July 2022, he had not received from this administration any “particular report (…) on the Marianne Fund”. Gérald Darmanin “was informed by the Secretary of State of the existence of alerts from the end of March-beginning of April” 2023, according to him. The Senate committee will hear Mohamed Sifaoui on Tuesday and Marlène Schiappa and Sonia Backès on June 14.