a PS senator calls for the “47 files submitted online” to shed light on the use of subsidies

Investigations into the Marianne fund continue to make people react. Sunday, April 16, the chairman of the Senate finance committee, the socialist Claude Raynal, demanded from the government by Wednesday all the documents concerning the fund against separatism, after revelations on the use of the subsidies allocated.

He wishes “have communication (…) no later than Wednesday April 19 at 6 p.m.” of the “47 files submitted online having met the eligibility criteria for the ‘Marianne Fund’ call for projects”, as well as any element concerning the selection committee or committees, wrote the socialist on Friday, in a letter consulted by AFP, sent to the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, and to the Secretary of State for Citizenship, Sonia Backes. The information was disclosed by The Sunday newspaper.

Opaque management

By virtue of his powers as Chairman of the Finance Committee, Claude Raynal also demands to know the amount of subsidies granted and “any control result” of their use. A joint investigation of the weekly Marianne and France 2, broadcast at the end of March, describes an opaque management of this fund launched in 2021 by Marlène Schiappa, then Minister Delegate for Citizenship, after the assassination of the teacher Samuel Paty.

According to the investigation, the association which would be the main beneficiary, the Union of Physical Education and Military Preparation Societies (USEPPM), would have used this money for a website and publications on social networks very little followed, and to pay two of its administrators at the time. According to Marlène Schiappa’s office, “talking about embezzlement or campaign financing is false and misleading”.

The Paris prosecutor’s office announced on Friday that a report from Christian Gravel, president of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization, was being analyzed, before a possible opening of an investigation.