Several journalistic investigations reveal a suspicious use of subsidies allocated to the fight against separatism. The firm of Marlène Schiappa, at the origin of this fund, denies any embezzlement.
Has the fund created after the assassination of Samuel Paty been diverted from its purpose? Several investigations by journalists have revealed disturbing elements concerning the use made of the more than two million euros in subsidies initially allocated to the fight against separatism. France 2 and the weekly Marianne, then Mediapart, describe the opaque management of this fund launched by Marlène Schiappa, then Minister Delegate for Citizenship and now Secretary of State for the Social and Solidarity Economy and Associative Life. Part of the sums would also have been used to finance videos denigrating opponents of Emmanuel Macron, including Anne Hidalgo. The case could also take a legal turn: the town hall of Paris threatens to file a complaint against X, learned franceinfo, Friday, April 14. We explain the controversy to you.
What is the Marianne Fund?
It was born shortly after the assassination of Samuel Paty, a history and geography professor beheaded on October 16, 2020 by a radicalized young man. A few months later, Marlène Schiappa launched the “Marianne fund”, aimed at “finance people and associations who will make speeches to promote the values of the Republic and to fight against separatist speeches, in particular on social networks and online platforms”.
“I am launching a fund which will be called the Marianne fund. With 2.5 million euros, we can do a lot of things to defend the values of the Republic.”
Marlène Schiappa, Minister Delegate in charge of CitizenshipApril 20, 2021, on BFMTV
The idea is also to respond to “terrorist content”and not only to remove them, but also to fight “against the fake news that paves the way for radical Islamism” (from 19 minutes 15 in the video below).
What suspicions weigh on this fund?
“L’Œil du 20 heures” from France 2 and Marianne investigated for nine months how the envelope was used. Four associations have received nearly 1.3 million euros, more than half of the fund. Among them, the Union of Societies of Physical Education and Preparation for Military Service (USEPPM) has attracted attention. The association, born at the end of the 19th century, has a social purpose which appears to be far removed from the call for tenders. However, it has the largest subsidy: 355,000 euros. In the grant allocation agreement established between the USEPPM and the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization (CIPDR), the association undertakes “to deploy multimedia content, a positive message of re-enchantment of the values of the Republic and another in deconstruction of the violent attacks suffered by the Republic”.
According to the investigation, the USEPPM would have used these funds for a website and publications on social networks with little follow, and to pay two of its administrators. However, this last point would contradict the statutes of the association, explains to AFP Cyril Fergon, lawyer forThe other members of the office, who claim to have never been informed of this allocated public money or of its terms of use. One of these two ex-leaders, Mohamed Sifaoui, communication director of a football club, the SCO of Angers, but also a journalist who took refuge in France after having escaped four attacks in Algeria in the 1990s, announced on Twitter “legal proceedings against all those” who defame him.
According to revelations from Mediapart (paid item) published on April 12, “another structure received more than 300,000 euros when it had just been created and had no known activity”. This is the association Reconstruire le commun. Its statutes were registered on October 29, 2020, thirteen days after the assassination of Samuel Paty. They were submitted to the prefecture on February 14, 2021, that is to say two months before the launch of the call for applications for the Marianne fund, on April 20, 2021.
The news site claims that Rebuilding the Commons has “disseminated political content against opponents of Emmanuel Macron during the presidential and legislative campaigns”. The association published 57 videos on YouTube, from January 2022 to August 2022. It frontally attacks political opponents of the President of the Republic. However, it is forbidden to use public means to influence the outcome of an election. “We realized that some content had political references”said Christian Gravel, president of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization, to Mediapart. “My teams immediately reported to them in follow-up meetings.”
Rebuilding the Common has temporarily ceased operations. “The project is currently on hiatus for professional and personal reasons.says its president, Ahlam Menouni, to Mediapart. A break is not a stoppage, on the contrary, we are very proud of what we have started.”
What do those close to Samuel Paty say?
Part of the professor’s family said to themselves, at the beginning of April, “particularly shocked” after the publication of the first investigations, considering that the name of Samuel Paty could not “to be the instrument of such acts”. According to the press release, Virginie Le Roy, lawyer for part of the family, wrote to Marlène Schiappa and Sonia Backès, the Secretary of State for Citizenship, “to share with them his various questions”.
What are the political reactions?
RN deputies asked on Thursday for the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry. For it to be launched, a vote of the Assembly is necessary.
“These accusations are extremely serious and raise questions about the role of Marlène Schiappa in this case when she claimed in June 2022 to have validated personally, with her cabinet, the choice of beneficiaries and the breakdown of subsidies.”
Members of the National Rallyin a press release
The PS group of the Senate also wanted the creation of a commission of inquiry on the subject, reports Public Senate. If the facts were true, “It’s extremely serious”judged the socialist senator Rachid Temal, who suspects a “state scandal”.
Several voices on the left have been raised to ask to shed light on this affair, including the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo (PS), and the leader of the LFI deputies, Mathilde Panot. “What a shame”, judged the latter on Twitter.
How is the government defending itself?
After the first revelations, the cabinet of Marlène Schiappa had denied in a press release that the minister had had a say in the beneficiaries. “Wrongly asserting that it was an ad hominem decision by Marlène Schiappa is totally false and denied by the procedure, just as it is totally false to claim that it would be friends of the minister”, he wrote. And to continue: “Following checks – provided for from the launch of the fund – on the use of the funds, sixteen of the seventeen winning associations justify their proper use.”
The State Secretariat for Citizenship nevertheless announced on March 29 that it had asked the General Inspectorate of Administration (IGA) for an audit on the question. “Talking about embezzlement or campaign financing is false and misleading”reacted to AFP the cabinet of Marlène Schiappa after the new revelations of Mediapart, adding that the investigation of the IGA “will make it possible to shed full light and to determine in complete transparency the conditions of operation and allocation of these subsidies”.
Government spokesman Olivier Véran assured on Wednesday that at the end of the Council of Ministers, that the executive wanted “determine in complete transparency the conditions of operation, allocation, to associations”. He insisted on a “extension of the scope of referral to the IGA” to achieve this.
What is the court’s response?
Asked by AFP, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that it was in possession of the full report made by Christian Gravel, president of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization. This report under article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is being analyzed, before a decision on a possible opening of an investigation.