“An exemplary Republic” promised Emmanuel Macron during his first presidential campaign. The promise seems difficult to keep. Indeed, the Elisabeth Borne government is widely criticized and little appreciated. Some faces are even unknown to the French. The President even sometimes gets annoyed by this lack of popularity and thinks of a reshuffle. If certain ministers are in the sights of justice, things are unlikely to work out…

Indeed, for a few years, the legal cases around the ministers tense the political world in general.

Some ministers have already packed up and been dismissed from the government, such as Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, former Secretary of State for La Francophonie, targeted by an investigation for rape in the context of her profession as a gynecologist, or Justine Benin, Secretary of State in charge of the Sea, accused of “clientelism”.

On the other hand, other political figures such as certain deputies “cling to their seats” as an article in Le Parisien tells us. Indeed, Damien Abad (Renaissance MP), accused of rape, Emmanuel Pellerin (Renaissance MP), who admitted to having consumed cocaine, and Adrien Quatennens (France Insoumise MP) are among the “black sheep of the Assembly”. The first speech of the latter at the Palais-Bourbon during his return also gave rise to a concert of boos from the deputies of the majority and some applause from the Insoumis. The deputy from the North was sentenced last December for domestic violence and resumed his parliamentary work in January 2023.

We take stock of the ministers who are disturbing by their “legal cases”…