The Minister of Communities sparked a controversy by comparing the wait for an appointment to the government to the situation of a cancer patient, suspended from medical results. Faced with a wave of criticism and indignant reactions, Dominique Faure pleaded incomprehension and a misinterpretation of his words before opting for silence.
Dominique Faure did not hide his joy after remaining at the Ministry of Territorial Communities and Rural Affairs. But, a week after his appointment, the atmosphere is less light. She is even “weighed down” by a controversy. This Saturday, February 17, the minister compared, at the microphone of France Culture, the wait for her appointment to the government to the wait for the diagnosis of cancer.
Dominique Faure’s statement did not go unnoticed. On the contrary, the socialist Olivier Faure was the first political leader to react in denouncing indecent remarks.
One wonders if the ministers are not having a competition of the most indecent. What have they experienced to be so beyond all common sense?
This one dares to compare the 4 weeks waiting for her appointment to the weeks of waiting that cancer patients experience after an exam.😱 pic.twitter.com/ovUOqSMLpI— Olivier Faure (@faureolivier) February 18, 2024
48 hours after the start of the controversy, the affair still provokes reactions. After the “politicians”, it was the media which seized on Dominique Faure’s comments. The tone is particularly severe. A radio even establishes a parallel between the Minister of Communities and her former colleague in charge of National Education, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. A former Minister of Education “disembarked” and demoted due to a (black) series of untimely and controversial declarations on the amount of her income or the absenteeism of “public” teachers.
The parallel between Dominique Faure and Amélie Oudéa-Castéra is perhaps “tempting”. But it doesn’t really hold up when it comes to the method. The former Minister of Education made real communication errors, notably by improvising an incredible outing to her son’s old school, during which she was booed.
Dominique Faure has chosen, for her part, to keep a low profile.
This is not the first time that Dominique Faure has had to face a “bad buzz”. The Minister of Communities is not, unlike Gérald Darmanin, Bruno Le Maire or Eric Dupont-Moretti, the best-known figure in the government. But she has already had to deal with moments of “celebrity”. Hence some experience in crisis communication.
Dominique Faure began by counterattacking by accusing his detractors of “bad faith”. But the minister ended up apologizing.
Comments I made yesterday on France Culture caused a lot of discussion. I recognize an awkwardness.
If anyone felt hurt by my words, I regret it and apologize to them.— Dominique Faure (@FaureDominique) February 18, 2024
In order to close the episode, Dominique Faure then chose silence. Contacted by France 3 Occitanie, the minister declared that she had “strictly no comment” to make.