Marianne Fund: Marlène Schiappa assures that the accusations have "deflated"

“My probity is intact,” said Secretary of State Marlène Schiappa on Sunday, judging that the “accusations against (her) had deflated” after the publication of the report of the Senate inquiry committee on the management of the Marianne Fund, which she launched in 2021. “I welcome the publication of the Senate report which makes a number of criticisms, of course, but above all which gives recommendations for the future. Interesting recommendations in my opinion, which must be studied, “said in an interview with Corse-Matin the Secretary of State for the Social and Solidarity Economy and Associative Life.

“Then I find that the charges against me have deflated. Some have spoken of embezzlement, of favoritism, and today the chairman of the Senate inquiry committee himself admitted that these accusations were absurd. My probity is intact and that’s what matters to me,” she said.

On July 6, the rapporteur for the Senate investigation devoted to this controversial file, Jean-François Husson (LR), slammed the management of the Marianne Fund, denouncing “lack of rigor”, “opacity” and “casualty”” and calling a “fiasco” this initiative to fund counter-narratives to radical Islam. He also lamented that during her long hearing before the commission of inquiry, Ms. Schiappa “largely discarded herself on (her) cabinet” and that she had “a lot of memory loss”.

In the case of the Marianne Fund, justice also opened an investigation, entrusted to an examining magistrate at the beginning of May, for “embezzlement of public funds, embezzlement of public funds by negligence, breach of trust and illegal taking of interests”. Figure of the Macron galaxy and member of the government since 2017, Marlène Schiappa has seen her star fade. It is now weakened, with repeated calls for resignation from the left opposition.

“It is the game of the opposition to call for the resignation of such and such a member of the government as soon as there is a problem or a controversy. For my part, I retain the many supports of my government colleagues and many others and that is what is important to me, ”she reacted in Corse-Matin on Sunday.