Their names appeared in the promotion of last January 1, published in the Official Journal, but no one knew when the decoration was going to be given to them. The mystery is lifted. According to our information, Emmanuel Macron will present this Wednesday, at the end of the day and under the golds of the Elysée village hall, the insignia of the Legion of Honor to two of his former ministers: the former Keeper of the seals Nicole Belloubet (promoted to the rank of commander), as well as the former Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn (promoted knight).
In front of an audience of guests, they will be decorated alongside other personalities from the fields of sport, economics, health and law, including Professor Étienne-Émile Baulieu (the inventor of the morning after pill ), as well as Véronique de Villèle (the sports presenter who made the heyday of television in the 1980s in the famous Sunday program “Véronique et Davina”).
“She left her ministry at the worst time”
When the name of Agnès Buzyn was published among the list of recipients of January 1, several voices were raised in the political class to denounce “a provocation”, in particular among the representatives of the National Rally and France insubordinate. Emmanuel Macron’s former minister resigned from office in February 2020, at the very start of the Covid wave, to run for municipal elections in Paris, before being indicted in September 2021 by the Paris Court of Justice. Republic for “endangering the lives of others” in its management of the Covid-19 epidemic.
“It is shocking that she is decorated (…) even though she left her ministry at the worst moment”, was for example indignant the Insoumis deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis Éric Coquerel, in the process. At the beginning of February, however, the indictment was canceled.
“His honor has been washed away. This promotion is therefore not controversial. On the contrary, Agnès Buzyn is a great scientist, a committed personality, an exemplary and courageous career. This is what the President of the Republic will honor on Wednesday evening, ”defends a close friend of the Head of State.