2023-11-26 00:37:40
Gérard Collomb, former mayor of Lyon and ex-minister of the interior in the first Macron government, died on Saturday evening, November 25, at the age of 76, his wife Caroline Collomb announced to Agence France-Presse. As soon as his death was announced, messages flooded into X.
In a press releaseEmmanuel Macron, greeted a « ami cher » and one “statesman who embodied republican ascension and authority”. Gérard Collomb joined En Marche in 2016, the movement created to bring Mr. Macron to the Elysée. “A figure in political life and the Socialist Party, he worked throughout his life to defend his ideals of progress and fraternity, with an erudition that did not hinder frankness”, continues the press release.
The Head of State also pays tribute to the man whose “the name will remain inseparable from its city, Lyon” : at the head of the capital of Gaul from 2001 to 2023, he “led an unprecedented transformation of his city”. On, Emmanuel Macron also wrote: “The Lyonnais are orphans and I share their grief. »
The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, praises on this same social network and “tireless servant of the State, republican, companion from the very beginning of the president” of the Republic.
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The former socialist president, François Hollande, briefly retraces on the journey of the one who went from socialism to macronism: “He contributed to the re-foundation of the PS with François Mitterrand then Pierre Mauroy”, he recalls adding, in an allusion to Gérard Collomb’s commitment to Emmanuel Macron: “He thought he would continue his social-democratic commitment by choosing to follow another path. As minister, he did not have time to translate into action his lucidity about the risks of fracturing our society. »
The socialist Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, who was one of Gérard Collomb’s deputies at Lyon town hall, trusts on “Very very heavy heart. a huge loss.”
The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, saying he was “saddened”, paid tribute also on au “minister of the interior inflexible on republican principles and security”. A part of Gérard Collomb’s personality particularly praised, unsurprisingly, on the right and on the far right, where we have not forgotten the words spoken by the former Minister of the Interior after his resignation from the Place Beauvau in October 2018: “Today, it is rather the law of the strongest that prevails – drug traffickers, radical Islamists – which has taken the place of the Republic (…). Today, we live side by side. I fear that tomorrow we will have to live face to face. » Laurent Wauquiez, president of Les Républicains of the Rhône-Alpes Auvergne region says: “We will miss his lucid vision of the ills of our society” while according to Marine Le Pen, the president of the National Rally group in the Assembly: “His fear of a fractured France must challenge us more than ever. »
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