the placement of Edouard Philippe under assisted witness status is “a worrying precedent” for the deputy Benjamin Haddad

“We are witnessing a form of judicialization of public action, which represents a worrying precedent“, according to Benjamin Haddad, spokesperson for the Renaissance group in the National Assembly and deputy for Paris. He reacted on franceinfo on Saturday October 22 to the placement of Edouard Philippe – former Prime Minister – under the status of “witness assisted” by the Court of Justice of the Republic in the investigation into the responsibilities of the executive in the management of Covid-19.

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For the deputy, the fact that this file is brought before the courts is not justified: “There may be mistakes that deserve to be debated on the political level – I would remind you that public action is also done within a legal framework – but considering that there must be a judicial response here, I believe that represents a precedent on which one can wonder.“

Benjamin Haddad fears it is “a form of the sword of Damocles above political leaders when they make decisions” who “risks paralyzing public action more than anything else in the future.” “We are not talking here about private interests or corruption, we are talking about public action“, he adds before continuing: “We can question everything, but I think that going before a Court of Justice and drawing a judicial response rather than a political or administrative response raises questions.“

Regarding the indictment of Agnès Buzyn, former Minister of Health at the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, in this file, Benjamin Haddad questions: “I do not know the details of the decisions of the judicial investigation, but I ask the same question: is it the role of justice to come and question what is a public action taken in a context of uncertainty, opacity, contradictory information?“