Bruno Retailleau judges that the rule of law is not “sacred”, criticisms come from the Macronist camp

In “Le Journal du Dimanche”, the new Minister of the Interior made remarks which angered the centrist bloc.

A position taken by the new Minister of the Interior which is causing ink to flow. Bruno Retailleau estimated, Saturday September 28, in The Sunday Journal that “the rule of law is not intangible or sacred”. “It is a set of rules, a hierarchy of norms, judicial control, a separation of powers, but the source of the rule of law is democracy, it is the sovereign people”, added the elected Republican.

Comments which caused a reaction in part of the presidential camp, now allied with LR within the government. The President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, recalled Monday on France 2 that the rule of law “protect our democracy”saying to himself “worry” words from Bruno Retailleau. “Now is not the time to make divisive remarks,” also insisted Elisabeth Borne on BFMTV.

In an attempt to defuse the controversy, a government source assured franceinfo that it was “there is no question of calling into question even one centimeter of the rule of law which is a major pillar of our Republic”. “What the minister wanted to say is that we can, on the other hand, question the law, make it evolve, on the sovereign level like the rest, that is the role of Parliament”justified this source.

The deputy from the presidential camp Mathieu Lefèvre also spoke on this subject on TF1: “When [Bruno] Retailleau talks about going outside the rule of law, when he had this declaration before entering the government on the French on paper, it is not the right and the government which seem to me to respond in the clearest way to the aspirations of recent months”he developed.

On “democracy is constitutive of the rule of law and not the other way around”. He called on Michel Barnier to “reframe”in a barely veiled reference to the reaction of the Prime Minister when his Minister of the Economy, Antoine Armand (Renaissance), declared that he did not place the RN in “the republican arch”.

On the same social network, the non-registered deputy Sacha Houlié, a figure on the left wing of the macronie, also deplored these comments. “To say that the rule of law is not intangible is to put the separation of powers into perspective.”he wrote. And to threaten, in view of Michel Barnier’s general policy declaration on Tuesday: “Without further executive response, this policy alone justifies government censure.”

As soon as he arrived at Place Beauvau, Bruno Retailleau warned that he would pass decrees to pass certain measures, in particular the fight against immigration. On LCI on Sunday, he said he was in favor of the application of double punishment, i.e. the systematic expulsion of convicted foreigners at the end of their sentence.