The Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin justified Sunday January 1 with BFMTV the dismissal at the beginning of December of the prefect of Indre-et-Loire Marie Lajus, by denouncing “lots of lies” around this case.
In this statement from Mayotte where he spent the New Year, Gérald Darmanin affirmed that the decision to dismiss the prefect from office had “nothing to do with real estate projects”. “But sometimes to the behavior of each other”he added sibyllinely.
The eviction of Marie Lajus has sparked an unprecedented mobilization of local elected officials, parliamentarians, heads of associations and a former attorney general of Paris through petitions, forums and letters.
Supporters of Marie Lajus explain that she was sacked for opposing a project to set up a start-up incubator in the park of Château Louise-de-la-Vallière, in Reugny, which had irritated elected officials.
“We are revocable ad nutum”
“We all considered, continued the Minister, in the responsibility that is ours and I take my responsibilities, which I had to know how to change when things were not going well. » “A representative of the State must be unassailable and respectable and when this is not the case, I take my responsibilities as head of administration”he accused without mentioning the name of the prefect.
Why is the eviction of the prefect of Indre-et-Loire Marie Lajus so criticized?
Monday, when taking office, Patrice Latron, the successor of Marie Lajus, held a press conference during which he discussed this dismissal. He thus argued that in the “exciting job” of prefect, there was “easements”.
“And in these servitudes, he said, there is the fact that we are at the disposal of the government. One is revocable ad nutum, that is to say with a nod of the head. It’s part of the job requirements. It has to be integrated. It’s extremely unpleasant when this happens to you. […] but it must be integrated. It’s like that ! »
Gérald Darmanin had also insisted on the fact that the prefects were appointed at the discretion of the government. Their appointment is decided by the Council of Ministers on the proposal of the Minister of the Interior. But it is the Head of State who has the last word.
