The President of the Republic announced on Monday, October 3, that the Secretary General of the Elysée, Alexis Kohler, would remain in office despite his indictment for “illegal taking of interest”.“Emmanuel Macron considers that he can pretty much do what he wants and that is an ethical problem”reacted Aurélien Pradié, general secretary of the Republicans and candidate for the presidency of his party.
Alexis Kohler is suspected of a conflict of interest because of his family ties with the Italian-Swiss shipowner MSC. Emmanuel Macron’s right-hand man denies having “committed any offence”.
“Gradually, we are pushing back the ethical rules that applied until then.”
Aurelien Pradieat franceinfo
“What is under discussion today, believes Aurélien Pradié, it is not so much the indictment of Alexis Kohler or the referral to the Court of Justice of the Minister of Justice [Eric Dupond-Moretti soupçonné de prise illégale d’intérêts], but their immediate maintenance by the President of the Republic”. And the boss of the Republicans insists: “The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, considers that he can pretty much do what he wants and that is an ethical problem, a political problem and an institutional problem”.
“Basically, the case is extremely serious”
According to Aurélien Pradié the “legitimacy” by Alexis Kohler “is weak”. “It is not linked to universal suffrage. It is linked, and this goes for Eric Dupond-Moretti as well, to the personal appointment of the President of the Republic. He draws no legitimacy from the people and today he is put back in question in his functions”he explained.
“Basically, the case is extremely serious, continues Aurélien Pradié. Potentially, Alexis Kohler would have used his duties as a state representative to serve a foreign company. Not a national company, a foreign company whose law today is governed by Swiss law.”
“The doubt exists. And that, for me, is extremely serious”
Aurelien Pradieat franceinfo
However, the secretary general of the Republicans does not call for the automatic withdrawal of elected officials indicted in legal cases: “It is not for us to shoot on sight for controversial reasons on each other. Alexis Kohler and the Keeper of the Seals have no popular legitimacy, no legitimacy to be elected by the people and by our fellow citizens. They have the sole legitimacy of having been appointed by the President of the Republic. This places them in a situation of great fragility and for which doubt is never possible”.