France’s newly appointed defence minister Sylvie Goulard has resigned from government after a magistrate launched a preliminary investigation into allegations her party misused European parliament funds, reports The Guardian.
Goulard, who only took up her post in Emmanuel Macron’s administration a month ago, stepped down on Tuesday. She is the second high-profile minister to go in less than 24 hours.
President Macron has pledged to clean up French politics and public life after a series of scandals that have damaged voter confidence in their elected representatives. A “moralisation bill” that bans politicians from employing family members and obliging them to declare their personal interests when in office is expected to be one of his government’s first pieces of legislation.
“The president of the republic is working to restore confidence in public action, reform France and relaunch Europe,” Goulard said in a statement on Tuesday. “This work should take precedence over any personal consideration,” she added.
“Defence is a demanding portfolio. The honour of our armies, of the men and women who serve and put their lives in danger should not be mixed up in controversies that have nothing to do with them.”
On Monday, Richard Ferrand, minister for territorial cohsion and the general secretary of Macron’s fledgling political party La République en Marche (La REM – Republic on the Move) resigned after he was put under preliminary investigation for nepotism and financial impropriety.
The departure of Ferrand, a close friend of Macron, was sold as a promotion; he will lead the REM parliamentary group.
Goulard, a member of La REM’s allies in government, the centrist MoDem party, added: “On the assumption that the preliminary inquiry against MoDem is aimed at verifying the conditions under which my assistants at the European parliament were employed, I want to be in a position to demonstrate freely my good faith and all the work that I have done.”