New government: the priority for the Interior is to “restore order”, insists Retailleau

The priority for the new Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau is to “restore order”, he hammered home on Monday during the handover with Gérald Darmanin. “I have three priorities: restore order, restore order, restore order. I believe in order. Order as a condition of freedom. When there is no order, it is freedom that is threatened first. I believe in order as the condition of equality”, repeated Bruno Retailleau in the courtyard of the Hôtel de Beauvau.

“A force of conviction to convince”

“Everything is not going to happen with a magic wand. I will never tell stories to the French because the slope to climb is steep and it will be hard. It cannot be done with a snap of the fingers. It cannot be done with a chin stroke either. It will take perseverance, professionalism, and consistency too,” he continued. “It will obviously take dialogue, of course, a force of conviction to convince. It will take respect for each other, so that, driven by the higher interest of the Nation, we can come together on a single objective: to protect the French because it is their first right and it is therefore our first duty,” the former senator of Les Républicains added.

An elected official from Vendée, Retailleau is the holder of a firm line on immigration, security and respect for secularism and has never ceased to denounce “the laxity” of Macron’s approach to the issues managed by this ministry. “Shame on those who instill hatred towards our police forces in their speeches. It is unworthy and I will never let it happen because they are the shield of the Republic, the last resort. They are a protection, they are servants: I will be the first among them. In the etymology of the word minister, there is servant. A minister is a servant and I subscribe, here again, to this conception of this high ministerial function”, he declared.

LR tenor, strategic boss of the powerful Les Républicains group in the Senate since 2014, Bruno Retailleau was appointed Minister of the Interior on Saturday to replace Gérald Darmanin, in office since July 2020.