VIDEO. Did Gérald Darmanin “bar the way” from Sandrine Rousseau to the management of Sciences Po Lille, as she claimed in 2021?

In 2016, long before #MeToo, she was one of the first to denounce sexual violence in the political world. The accusations of sexual assault that she brought, with three other elected environmentalists, against the ex-MP Denis Baupin made her the spokesperson the victims. It is in this capacity that Sandrine Rousseau is invited, on February 10, 2021, to the set of the program “C to you”, to react to the resignation of the director of Sciences Po Paris, following the Duhamel affair. She will launch another accusation.

“I applied for several positions after [l’affaire Baupin], explains Sandrine Rousseau, who at that time had retired from the political scene, and people who are either accused or convicted of sexual violence have stood in my way. This is the case of Olivier Duhamel, Gérald Darmanin…” The feminist alludes to the post of director of Sciences Po Lille which escaped her in 2019. If she did not obtain the majority of the votes of the members of the board of directors of the institution, it is according to her for this reason: Gérald Darmanin, who was a member, would have not only voted against her, but also influenced the other administrators.

Could Sandrine Rousseau have overinterpreted, “imagined something”?

In front of the camera of “Complement of the investigation”, Sandrine Rousseau affirms today still to have received “at least one proof” from the mouth of a board member. The director of the IRA (Regional Institute of Administration) would have “read on the phone” an SMS from Gérald Darmanin, then Minister of the Public Service. A message “reminding her of the hierarchical link that there was, and that she could not be free to vote”, according to Sandrine Rousseau.

Questioned by “Complement of investigation”, the former director of the IRA disputes this version in these terms: “I have never received an SMS from Mr. Darmanin at any time. I think Sandrine Rousseau is imagining something that I neither said nor received. I am formal on this.” She admits that her supervisor had told her that the feminist was not the administration’s candidate… but said that she had personally voted for her. Contacted, the minister’s office refutes any intervention during the vote.

“Additional investigation” questioned another participant in this vote. Anne Bazin says she feels “insulted” by these allegations about a vote “influence”, and denies any pressure to oust Sandrine Rousseau. According to her, it would simply be the best candidate who won. Sandrine Rousseau was largely defeated: 8 votes against 21 for her competitor.

Extract from “Sandrine Rousseau, in green and against all”, a portrait to see in “Complément d’Enquête” on April 13, 2023.

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