2023-12-21 18:25:14
Emmanuel Macron has his own understanding of the meaning of the Legion of Honor. This one “is not a moral order”, he declared twice, on France 5, Wednesday December 20. He then responded to a question on the case of Gérard Depardieu, recipient of “the highest of national distinctions”as defined in the texts.
The actor is subject to disciplinary proceedings. The Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, made the opening public, Friday December 15, also on France 5. This is the consequence of the actor’s comments about women reported in a documentary on the show “Further investigation”where he designates their genitals with great obscenity, giving them lustful fantasies, while revealing predatory behavior.
Exclusion from the order in the event of a judicial conviction
The French president notably invoked the ” presumption of innocence “ to defend the maintenance of the decoration of Gérard Depardieu, which he received from the hands of Jacques Chirac in 1996. The code of the legion of honor specifies the legal situations leading to exclusion from the order of the Legion of Honor. Are concerned “persons convicted of crime”but also those condemned “to a non-suspended prison sentence of one year or more” as well as those having “is subject to a criminal sentence”.
In fact, the case of Gérard Depardieu does not belong to any of these categories. Although he has been indicted for rape for three years for charges that he disputes, no conviction has been handed down against him.
But the code of the Legion of Honor mentions another situation which could lead to “disciplinary penalties” ranging from censorship to exclusion from the order: when a member has “committed an act contrary to honor”. It is under this provision that the Grand Chancellor, General François Lecointre, former Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, initiated disciplinary proceedings against Gérard Depardieu, which was served on him by mail on Friday December 15.
A distinction which aims to make examples
The criterion of honor refers precisely to the moral dimension of the Legion of Honor which, denied by Emmanuel Macron, has nevertheless accompanied the distinction since its creation in 1802. At the time, for Napoleon Bonaparte, it was a question of recreating examples in a society where “the Revolution abolished all distinctions”recalls historian Natalie Petiteau, specialist in the First Empire, who continues: “He wanted to consolidate society, to ensure that its base ceased to be in flux. »
In this perspective, the Legion of Honor aims to “designate all deserving people to the nation”. A merit which can be established on the military field, but also civil, the order of the Legion of Honor having to be «a mirror of what society considers its elites in all their diversity.” “Citizens who, through their knowledge, their talents, their virtues, have contributed to establishing or defending the principles of the Republic, have made people love or respect justice or public administration” therefore also have their place, details the legislative text of the time, cited by Natalie Petiteau (1).
A sign that morality plays a primordial role, “a member of the order can only remain so by complying with rules which establish him as a model for all his fellow citizens” specifies the historian, who looked at the “disciplinary files”. Family commitment, repayment of debts, honorable employment… The virtue of “legionary” is scrutinized in all its aspects. “It is a distinction which gives duties more than rights”summarizes Natalie Petiteau, adding: “Today we remain in this 19th century ideal. »
This precise framework of criteria is, however, accompanied by great freedom of attribution. “If the President of the Republic decides that someone deserves it, he has the right to it,” explains the historian. “Grandmaster of the Order”the head of state decides ” as a last resort “ on “any questions” concerning it, specifies the code. In the case of Gérard Depardieu, Emmanuel Macron therefore has the possibility of opposing the disciplinary procedure initiated by the Grand Chancellor. It remains to be seen whether he will move from statements to facts.
(1) In The Factory of Honorunder the direction of Bruno Dumons and Gilles Pollet, Presses universitaire de Rennes, 2009, 240 p., €16.
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