Members of the opposition and Greenpeace have pinned MP Mickaël Nogal (La République en Marche, LRM), who is to be named in March number two of the National Association of Food Industries (ANIA), listed as a lobby.
“Mickaël Nogal, currently deputy for Haute-Garonne, is appointed director general of ANIA today. He will take up his duties on 1er next March, after the end of the parliamentary session ”, the association which represents French food companies announced in a press release on Wednesday. “I am very proud and happy to join ANIA to put my experience at the service of the country’s leading industry”, said Mr. Nogal, quoted in the same press release.
“I will not combine the two activities. The day I start at ANIA, I will no longer be a deputy ”, assured Mr. Nogal to Agence France-Presse (AFP). He clarified his intention to resign from his post as Member of the 4e constituency of Haute-Garonne, without giving a detailed timetable.
Since the Sapin 2 law of 2016, parliamentarians can no longer exercise the activity of interest representative.
“A nice gift for this lobby”
The announcement of this future assumption of office made Greenpeace France react, believing that it was“A nice gift for this lobby, which is one of the most powerful in the sector”. “Merger of The Republic in motion and the lobbies: episode 529”, quipped the non-governmental organization (NGO) on Twitter.
And hop, once again, a political representative goes to offer his services and his networks to the private sector. A nice shot … https://t.co/IcQWS61sP7
“In Macronie, deputies first obey the lobbies. Then they also become lobbyists ”, mocked Manuel Bompard, MEP and campaign manager of the “rebellious” presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
In #Macronie, deputies first obey the lobbies. Then they become lobbyists too. https://t.co/gTTqllcjvH
Delphine Batho, environmental deputy and spokesperson for Yannick Jadot, also noted on Twitter that the end of the parliamentary session did not correspond to the end of the deputy’s mandate.
End of the session, but not end of the mandate. #deontology #lobby https://t.co/59coP4e2Dp
Mr. Nogal told AFP that he worked in the food industry before his mandate as a member of Parliament and “Deported from these subjects” since 2017. “I have always made sure that there was no conflict of interest”, said Mr. Nogal, who specializes in the subject of housing and was co-rapporteur of the Climate and Resilience Law and the “3DS” Law, the latter still being debated in Parliament.
Mr. Nogal, who was one of the linchpins of the Youth with Macron, had announced, in La Dépêche du Midi, his intention not to stand for the next legislative elections.