After her appointment to the government, Rachida Dati “is no longer a member of the Republicans”, assures Éric Ciotti

2024-02-15 11:12:35

The divorce is recorded. Éric Ciotti repeated Thursday that the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, was no longer part of the Republicans, explaining that she was no longer a member and that there was therefore no need to exclude her. “She is no longer a member of the Republicans, there is no ambiguity,” assured the president of the party on TF1.

The appointment of Rachida Dati to the Ministry of Culture last month caused a real earthquake within the Republicans. Éric Ciotti initially announced his exclusion from LR, but the sanction was ultimately not on the agenda of the party’s political office at the start of the week. “There is no need for exclusion (…). To be a member of a political party you must join it. It is no longer a member in 2024, so there is no need for any special procedure,” the Alpes-Maritimes MP explained on Thursday.

Rachida Dati “is no longer a member of the Republicans (…) She is no longer a LR member. She is no longer a member in 2024 (…) And she will no longer be a member unless she decides to leave the Government “, Eric Ciotti, president of the Republicans#BonjourLaMatinaleTF1 pic.twitter.com/23Ee7ldDhf

— TF1Info (@TF1Info) February 15, 2024

“We cannot be in a government, therefore in a majority, and in an opposition party,” he added. “She will no longer be a member, unless she decides to leave this government. Political life is common sense and logic. (…) We cannot be outside and inside,” said the parliamentarian, who said he “regretted and deplored” the choice of the Minister of Culture.

Questioned by Le Parisien after her appointment, Rachida Dati claimed to have given her “resignation from the national council of the Republicans, which is normal, not from the Republicans”. “I can be excluded from a party; I cannot be excluded from my values”, which remain “republican”, defended the minister, assuring that she had “never betrayed (her) convictions”.

LR will not miss “the municipal battle” of Paris

Éric Ciotti also once again declared that his party should be present in the municipal elections in Paris in 2026, a place that Rachida Dati, still mayor of the 7th arrondissement, covets. “Naturally, the Republicans will be present in the municipal battle to beat Anne Hidalgo,” he assured. “We will see if Madame Dati is a candidate, under what label, if she is still in government. There is still a lot of time,” said the MP.

He also returned to the controversy triggered by the appearance on Monday evening of the former Minister of Justice on a popular Twitch rap show, “DVM Show”. A sequence strongly criticized on social networks but also by the far right, including the boss of RN Jordan Bardella, who accused the show of being a “den of an anti-Semite”, referring to the rapper Freeze Corleone, targeted by an investigation for “apology of terrorism”.

“That’s not what I would have done,” added Éric Ciotti, also affirming that “in this group, there are links with the rapper Freeze Corleone, whose concerts were banned,” in Lyon and in Lille. “He filed a complaint against me” for defamation, recalled the deputy. He in fact lends the artist a parallel with the Nice attack of 2016 in one of these songs, comments that are “unambiguous and unworthy” according to him, which the rapper denies for his part. “I confirm more than ever my indignation at this exploitation of the Nice attack,” insisted the president of LR.