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“Sensitive matters”. François Hollande’s speech in the middle of the Leonarda affair, “almost a textbook case of bad political streak”
“Sensitive matters”. François Hollande’s speech in the middle of the Leonarda affair, “almost a textbook case of bad political streak”
(Sensitive affairs / France 2)
In October 2013, the expulsion of a 15-year-old schoolgirl, arrested during a school trip, sparked a national controversy. The youth are in the streets, the National Assembly is in turmoil, the socialist majority is torn apart… It was then that President Hollande decided to speak to the French.
In the “Leonarda affair”, this Roma schoolgirl deported with her family to Kosovo after being arrested during a school trip, this is a key moment – which has rarely been told. On Saturday October 19, 2013, a summit meeting was held at the Elysée, between President François Hollande and the ministers concerned, Manuel Valls at Interior, Vincent Peillon at National Education, and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault . They remember it in this extract from “Sensitive Affairs”. They remember their surprise when François Hollande declared (to avoid a conflict within the government, supposes Manuel Valls, who approved this expulsion) that he himself was going to speak publicly.
A decision that Vincent Peillon judges “astonishing” : “We don’t get together at the Elysée to do something like he did! It’s crazy stuff!“Jean-Marc Ayrault also believes that”it is not up to the President of the Republic to express himself on an ultimately minor matter“. Despite their warnings, a televised address was hastily organized. At 1:15 p.m., François Hollande spoke live from the Elysée.
What the president doesn’t know is that at the same time, thousands of kilometers away, in Kosovo, Leonarda and her family are listening to his speech live… under the eye of the cameras. And they will react hotly, on a continuous news channel.
When François Hollande announces that “if she requests it, a welcome will be reserved for her, and for her alone“, the teenager immediately declines his proposal: “It’s dead: without my parents, I’m not leaving. I can’t fend for myself, I’m barely 15.” His father, Resat Dibrani, even takes the president to task: “I don’t understand how you, a father, an intelligent president, can say something like that publicly“, he gets excited.
“I watched that, I was appalled.” (Jean-Marc Ayrault)
“That day, we understood that he had not understood what it was to be President of the Republic.” (Vincent Peillon)
“The authority of the President of the Republic is called into question by Leonarda. And it’s terrible.” (Manuel Valls)
The Prime Minister, the Minister of National Education and the Minister of the Interior of François Hollandein “Sensitive matters”
The sequence gives the impression of a distant dialogue. Surreal, the image is politically devastating. By speaking out, François Hollande hoped to put out the political fire; he only fanned the embers. The right criticizes a lack of firmness, the left points out an inhumane proposal.
By wanting to keep things simple, the president will not have pleased anyone… and especially not the first person concerned, Leonarda. The “Sensitive Affairs” team found Leonarda in Croatia, where she now lives. “I was beside myself. I felt lostshe remembers. I didn’t know how to cope without my family, so I reacted well. I did well to say no“.
Excerpt from “Leonarda, the teenager who defied the president”, une investigation carried out by Marine Haag, to be reviewed in “Sensitive Affairs”, a co-production between France Télévisions, France TV presse, France Inter and INA, adapted from a France Inter broadcast.
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