On BFMTV, the Minister of the Interior spoke about the controversy surrounding the dismissal in early December of Marie Lajus. He felt that the representatives of the Republic should be “unassailable and respectable”.
Guest of BFMTV this Sunday, January 1, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin spoke from Mayotte on the controversy surrounding the dismissal on December 7 of the prefect of Indre-et-Loire Marie Lajus.
Although it is not unusual for prefects to be suddenly fired by the executive, an article published in The chained Duck of December 14 cast doubt on the conditions of this dismissal.
Start-up incubator in the garden of a castle
Marie Lajus would, according to The chained Duckwas thanked because of its opposition to a real estate project, aimed at building a start-up incubator in the park of the Louise de La Vallière castle, located in Reugny (India-et-Loire).
In forum published in The world on December 26, some fifty actors from civil society, civil servants and elected officials castigated the decision of the Ministry of the Interior, affirming that Marie Lajus would have been dismissed for simply having enforced town planning law.
Unfounded accusations according to Gérald Darmanin, as he insisted on declaring on our antenna this Sunday.
“It actually has nothing to do with it, and I think there are a lot of lies being told, and it’s not worthy of those who serve the state,” castigated the minister.
“A representative of the Republic must be unassailable”
The minister insisted on recalling that it was he himself who had appointed Marie Lajus, previously prefect of Charente, “from a small department to a larger department”. But, still according to Gérald Darmanin, the conditions were no longer met for the prefect to exercise her functions calmly.
The world indicated this week that Marie Lajus sometimes had conflicting relationships with local elected officials, who considered her too rigid. A scenario that seemed confirmed this Sunday Gérald Darmanin.
“We all considered, in the responsibility that was ours, and I take my responsibilities, that it was necessary to know how to change when things were not going well. And that has nothing to do with real estate projects, but sometimes to the behavior of each other”, explained Gérald Darmanin.
Then to continue: “A representative of the Republic must be unassailable and respectable. And when this is not the case, I take my responsibilities as head of administration”.
The replacement for Marie Lajus, Patrice Latron, is to deliver his first speech on Monday as the new prefect of Indre-et-Loire.
