Grim week as trio of events reveal growing gap between French democracy and public ethics
On Wednesday France's justice minister Éric Dupond-Moretti was cleared of claims of an unlawful conflict of interest by a special court composed largely of politicians. Meanwhile, the country's labour minister Olivier Dussopt is continuing to carry out his official duties while on trial in a criminal court; and on top of that, the former budget minister and convicted tax fraud Jérôme Cahuzac has just announced he is seeking a return to politics. In what he describes as a bleak week for the country, Mediapart's Fabrice Arfi argues in this op-ed article that the relationship between French democracy and public ethics is crumbling yet further.
SometimesSometimes a chance combination of events tells its own story. Thus in the space of three days France saw its current labour minister standing trial over an allegedly rigged contract, its former budget minister who had been convicted of tax fraud announcing a possible return to politics, and the serving justice minister acquitted of the offence of “illegal conflict of interest” by a special court that the current ruling party wanted to abolish just four years ago because they said it represented a privileged in-house form of justice.
